Safeguards to Living Forever
by luukagu
Summary: VAMPIRE AU. Rin isn't the same when he gets back from Australia... [dark Rin/Haru] [slash]
1. Prelude

**Luuka:** Not including this chapter which is the prelude, this story is 5 chapters long and I have 4 of them already written. For chapters, we're talking about 5-7,000 words a piece but I've yet to do the ending which is why they're not up yet: idk, I'm disorganised. So, stake me.

**Warnings:** MxM explicit sexual content (yaoi), explicit gore, death, animal death, psychological issues, explicit torture and general darkness that people may find disturbing.

Review if you have the time.

* * *

The nightclub was hot and cramped, but that was only to be expected. Haru lounged idly at the bar, trying his best to keep his head down and observe the other men who writhed about on the dancefloor from the underneath of his fringe. A brown haired man who had been watching Haru for some time made his way toward him eventually-they were always the ones to approach him. All he had to do was wait, and he'd get a different man every night; Haru found it all very exciting.

'What's your name?'

'Yoshito.'

'Is that it, huh? My name is Haru.'

'Can I get you a drink?'

Yoshito- or rather, the man standing before Haru-was Haru's idea of perfect. He was fit with warm cheeks and clean skin, in his late thirties-not usually the type Haru would go for-but Haru supposed that their age didn't matter. As long as _he_ would be pleased with them, nothing else was important.

'No-I'm not really feeling thirsty. Hey... do you want to come back to my place?'

They might as well get to the point-after all, that was all the men ever wanted. They just needed a single night.

And that was exactly what Haru gave them.

* * *

_5 years earlier:_

Thump. Thump. Thump.  
Someone was throwing stones at his window. What time was it? Haru rolled over.

02:03a.m.

And he had school tomorrow, too...

Thump. Thump.

The stones continued. Small ones-not thrown with enough force to break the glass-but someone definitely wanted Haru's attention. Haru sat up in bed, ripped back the curtains and flung open his bedroom window. A single, solitary person stood waiting for him outside.

'_Rin_?' Haru breathed, rubbing his eyes. He was half asleep-if not completely- and it was difficult to distinguish anything due to the dark. There was a shadowy figure standing by the front door of his house that faintly resembled an older version of his childhood friend, staring up at Haru with eyes that glowed crimson.

'You'll let me in, won't you... Haru-_ka_?'

The question was irresistible: it was whispered so lovingly, but seemed to scrape across Haru's ears. Rin dragged out the last syllable in Haru's name-stretching it slowly-and Haru found his voice bewitching. It was both a question and a statement, a challenge and a dare-Haru pulled on his lip with his teeth. It had been five years since he'd seen Rin last... so why was Rin here, now of all times?

'Rin, what are you doing? Don't you know what the time-'

'Haru... say that I can come in.'

That would be easier, Haru supposed-he could invite Rin inside to explain everything in the warm.

'You can come in. Stay there, I'll get the key-'

'No.' Rin said, simply. 'Haru, I'm coming up.'

Haru had no idea how Rin was going to 'come up,' when both his front and back door were locked, but had already convinced himself by this point that he was in a dream state. His eyes closed as he yawned, and when he opened them again three seconds later Rin was gone. The patch of soil where he'd been standing was empty... uncomfortably, Haru lay back down and buried himself beneath his bedcovers.

Maybe a minute passed in silence before Haru's bedroom door opened with a soft click. Haru froze-he hadn't heard anyone come upstairs. Ever-so-slightly he turned away from the wall, to try and get a view of the person who'd entered.

Haru could see the outline of a man standing before him in the dark, slipping a jacket over his arms and soundlessly climbing out of his pants before getting into bed with Haru. Haru felt a strong body press up against his, then the soft tickle of warm breath as someone breathed against his neck.

'Haru,' Rin breathed into his ear. 'I'm back.'

Haru felt Rin's hands slip underneath his pyjamas and grasp his member, kicking his bottoms to his ankles. Both men's legs tangled in the sheets as Rin crawled closer and wrapped himself around Haru, pressing their bodies together. The intimacy wasn't something that Haru would have wanted so suddenly, but now that they'd started, he wasn't about to stop.

Rin was alternatively soft and sharp as he licked and bit around Haru's neck, kissing Haru's chin and jaw and yet never touching his lips. His teeth were sharp-scratching Haru faintly-and Haru realised that he'd yet to get a good look at Rin's face. But it was dark, Rin was clinging to his back and Haru was plenty preoccupied by his passion so he decided to take things as they came: this was Rin. Haru _knew_ this was Rin.

Rin held Haru down with a palm as he climbed atop Haru's waist to straddle him, weaving their hips together as he pressed their erections close. Haru stretched out a hand to touch Rin's cheek- he could only see outlines in the dark, and his hands wanted to feel how much his childhood friend had grown. He wanted to embrace Rin properly, to make up for all the years they'd spent missing each other-to fill himself in on the lost time using touches. He wanted to feel the firmness of Rin's muscles, listen to the beating of his heart and the steady hum of his pulse: he wanted to be one with Rin, in the most natural sense of the statement.

'Haru,' Rin breathed. 'You have to be the one to do it. If it's me, I won't be able to hold back...'

Rin took Haru in his arms and shifted him up while laying himself down, simultaneously switching their positions. Haru was on top, but knew it wasn't to be dominant: it was so he could give Rin pleasure-so they could both feel pleasure together.

As Haru settled himself on top of Rin, the gaze Rin gave him was almost loving. His eyes red appeared to gleam in the dark... or maybe it was just Haru's imagination... he was very, very aroused...

'Haru. Haru. Haru... Haru...'

Haru gasped as he rode Rin, digging his hands into Rin's ribs as his slender hips bounced up and down. Rin's length felt as if it were stirring his hot, tight anus; kneading into the sensitive flesh as it quivered and vibrated. It was a wonderful and overwhelming feeling-more hot and intense than anything Haru had ever felt before. And the _pleasure-_

'Haru... Haru...'

A coarse whisper. Rin reached out and extended a hand to Haru's chest, fingers splayed over Haru's heart. Haru's eyelids fluttered as he panted, rocking himself on top of Rin's member as Rin used his free hand to fondle Haru's own.

'Haru...'

'Rin...'

_I missed you so much._ Haru wasn't sure which one of them had said the words, but they were the last thing he'd heard before ecstasy shot through his body, exhaustion overcame him and he drifted into sleep.


	2. Wholesome

**Luuka:** proofreading on this is done! I meant to do it like three days ago, but I got distracted by studying and anime.

Same warnings as mentioned in the prelude, click back to read them again. I'm not writing which specific themes occur because that would ruin the story, so you're going to have to bear all the themes in mind and brace yourself to some extent when you read.

**Forewarning:** This is a horror story. While I don't consider it 'scary,' the large amount of psychological content may make this chapter and future chapters disturbing or uncomfortable, which is why I suggest you go back and study the warnings: this story is rated as 'Mature.' Please bear that in mind before you read. Thank you!

Review if you can-these things take time to write.

* * *

Rin was gone in the morning... if he'd ever been there in the first place. The sheets were musty, but Haru didn't know what to think: the whole night had transpired so suddenly, and it seemed all too easy to pass it off as a dream.

School passed normally for Haru, who attended swimming practice afterwards and then went to a nearby supermarket to stock up on herbs, vegetables and milk. When he got back to his house, a luminous pink sticky note had been pressed to his front door.

'_Welcome home. Come and find me_.'

Haru scowled to himself. The note itself was innocent enough, but unless the front door had written it then it meant that someone had found their way into Haru's home. Haru would have been incredibly worried if he didn't already know who that 'someone' was.

'He always was over-dramatic when it came to introductions.'

A brief smile touched Haru's lips. He pushed open the front door to find several more notes scattered across his hall:

'_I borrowed your shower. You're close__._'

'_The basement is off limits__.__ You're getting closer._'

'_Your living room wallpaper doesn't match your drapes__.__ Almost there__._'

'He's just abusing sticky notes now.' Haru murmured, as he tore down the piece of paper, stomping after the next one which he could see at the top of the stairs.

'_P.S. I may have broken your bathroom window last night. Also look behind you._'

Haru didn't get the chance. Two strong arms wrapped themselves around his waist and a head came to rest against his shoulder. From the corner of his eye, he saw strands of red hair-

'Good evening, Rin.'

'Hello, Haru. How are you?'

'Currently suffocating.'

Haru tried to writhe out of Rin's arms but they were tight around his ribs, clamping him in place as Rin kissed and nipped his neck. Haru focused on prising apart Rin's fingers, but it wasn't any good-they might as well have been welded to his waist for how tightly Rin was holding him. And yet, it wasn't uncomfortable-just a little sudden, was all.

'Knocking on the door would have been too efficient, huh?'

'Admit it: this worked much better.'

Pointy teeth scraped Haru's ear as Rin ran his hands over Haru's smooth, lean muscles, rubbing the soft skin in appreciation. If Haru weren't feeling so annoyed, the touch would have been very arousing.

'Rin, you do realise that I could have you arrested? What you're doing right now is breaking and entering. Last night you broke into my house and now you've done it again today-you're turning into a regular thug.'

'So? Call the cops.' Rin's laughter snuffed against Haru's ear. 'Last night you invited me in. And I didn't break in today, Haru- I never left.'

'Okay.'

That was... decidedly creepy, Haru thought. He hadn't seen Rin in the morning, and neither had he heard anything before he'd left for school. Rin hadn't been next to Haru when he'd woken up, so then, where?

'Rin. When you say you never left-'

'You're not in the mood.' Rin pinched Haru's thigh. 'Haru, you're_ boring_ me right now. Anyway, it's almost dusk... I'm going out to get some food.'

Then he took off down the stairs, leaving Haru slightly confused as to what had just happened.

* * *

Rin came back to Haru's house at 9pm where he found Haru in the kitchen, washing plates.

'Going to tell me where you went?'

'Nope.'

'Fine,' Haru shrugged. 'Whatever. There's some stir fry on the stove if you want it.'

'Mmn, thanks, but I already ate.'

Rin climbed up and perched on the kitchen counter, where he watched Haru through slitted red eyes. The look Rin gave him was more than slightly contemptuous: to Haru, it looked like Rin was assessing his worth. Rin's eyes trailed up Haru's legs and lingered on his hips, flitting upwards past his chest, eventually stopping on Haru's face. An amused smile touched his lips, as if he liked what he saw.

'It's been a long time, hasn't it, Haru?'

'Only five years. How was Australia?'

'I hated it; I _missed_ you. It was so lonely without you... my Haru.'

'Well, I didn't miss you.'

'So you say. Haru, how are your hips this evening? Do they still hurt from where you rode me last night?'

'Why are you here?'

'Why else would I come to your house? To see you again, of course.'

Rin tossed his hair over his shoulders and ran his tongue over his lips, smoothing a loose finger across his thighs as he parted his legs over the counter.

_He's flirting,_ Haru realised. _And not very subtlety, either._

Haru thought it was fairly obvious to see what Rin was trying to do: Rin was attempting to use his sex appeal in order to persuade Haru to let him stay at his house. It was strange how even though Haru could see through what Rin doing, it was still working on him, despite that.

'Do you want to stay?'

'That would be great.'

_Then why didn't you just ask in the first place?_

'If you're sticking around then you can do some chores. Come on: I need help changing my bed.'

* * *

'We need to figure out sleeping arrangements.' Haru told Rin, as he changed his bedding; Rin had followed him upstairs and sprawled himself out on Haru's bed, wrapping Haru's old bed sheets around his body. Every so often as he changed the duvet, Haru snuck glances across to Rin.

Rin had grown up nicely, Haru thought: he was aesthetically pleasing to say the least. His red hair was dishevelled and yet at the same time, not a strand looked out of place. He had a strong, muscular body with powerful thighs and an attractive smile to match; his red eyes shimmered like liquid, but flickered with a sense of suppressed playfulness. Rin seemed to be aware of his own attractiveness, because he'd move into compromising positions on the bed and touch himself in suggestive places, whilst trying to make eye contact with Haru.

'Hey, Haru... can I really stay?'

'Yeah-for as long as you like.'

Haru focused on putting the case on a pillow, taking longer than necessary in smoothing out each individual crease.

'R-Rin, I... I've been thinking... We've already had sex together, so there isn't much more that you can see... so you might as well sleep in my bed, right?'

Rin propped himself up with his elbows.

'Haru, I would love to sleep with you.' He replied. 'But unfortunately, I can't sleep at night.'

'You have insomnia?'

Rin smiled.

'Something like that.'

'What about school?'

'What about it?'

Rin had crawled up to Haru and looped an arm around his waist, whilst the other undid the buttons of his polo shirt. Haru gave up any planned attempts to make logical conversation with Rin: Rin seemed far too hormonal to even hear the words that Haru was saying, let alone conjure any type of response.

'What's wrong with you?' Haru complained. 'Can't you sit still for even five seconds?'

Haru had days when he got aroused without reason, but Rin seemed to be_ constantly_ in the mood: ever since Haru had arrived home, Rin hadn't been able to keep his hands away from him. He'd wanted to touch Haru all the time, wanted to feel him for no obvious reason-it was exciting, but also overwhelming. Rin pushed Haru down on the mattress and climbed on top of him, grinding their hips together.

'Get off,' Haru moaned, aware that his traitor body was responding. 'Rin, I want to do some washing... and we still haven't figured out where it is that you'll sleep. If you sleep during the day, then why don't you just use my bed whilst I'm at school?'

'No-that won't be any good. Your bedroom is at the front of the house, and during the day it would get bright: sunlight shines in through the curtains. I need a dark and quiet place-a place where I can be alone. Just drag a futon down to your basement.'

It wasn't a suggestion-it was a decision. Haru wriggled underneath Rin.

'Rin... there's no windows or central heating down there. Plus it's tiny and cramped... are you really sure that's where you want to sleep?'

'Yep-I want the basement: from now on, that room is mine. That means you're not allowed down there... not _ever, _Haru. Do you understand?'

'Never go down to the basement, sounds good.'

'I mean it, Haru-this is really important! Promise me you won't _ever_ go down there.'

'Yes, whatever! It can be your special place!'

Rin leaned down ever-so-slightly and his lips landed on Haru's. His tongue instantly slipped past Haru's teeth and mated with Haru's own, as sparks of desire begun to glow and float around in Haru's body like fireflies. It was far too forceful and intimate for a first kiss, but something told Haru that this was the gentlest Rin could get; and hey-he had to give Rin credit for trying. Haru griped Rin's forearms lightly and sucked hungrily on the other man's lower lip, lowering his hands to lace with Rin's at their sides.

'I appreciate it.' Rin hummed. He flicked Haru fondly on the nose.

'And now,' he decided. 'I'm going out. See you again tomorrow evening.'

'Yeah,' Haru echoed, disappointedly. 'Tomorrow evening.'

* * *

Haru found it difficult to sleep that night-his imagination kept wandering back to Rin. The earlier hours played out like moving pictures across his brain: last night Rin had taken him in the very bed where he now lay, and a few hours back they'd shared a kiss atop it, hand in hand.

As he tossed and turned, Haru was beginning to feel frustrated; his lower regions had started to _ache._ Haru slipped a hand underneath the sheets and touched himself experimentally to find out what was going on.

Haru was hard-he'd gotten hard thinking about Rin. Haru could have easily stroked himself to take care of it, but that wasn't what his body wanted: his body wanted to have Rin. Rin was a living, breathing bundle of restless, erotic energy, and the only things keeping him away from Haru were a few doors and a staircase. Haru found himself climbing out of bed and feeling his way down the stairs as he slipped silently through the darkness.

_I promised Rin that I wouldn't go into the basement, but I want him really badly. Rin crawled into bed with me the other night, so why can't I do the same to him? I don't understand why we need to have separate rooms: I like Rin and he likes me, so why can't we sleep together? _

As far as Haru was concerned, Rin was keeping them apart to be aggravating. Knowing Rin, Haru was half expected him to be cross-legged atop his futon in the basement- laughing and gloating as Haru appeared in the doorway-announcing that he'd been expecting Haru. So naturally what Haru did find when he opened the basement door shocked him.

There was a smell... something smelt, but Haru didn't pick up on that immediately. He reached across to hit the lights, and the room was illuminated with a soft clock. Later, he'd wish that he never did: the image he saw would stay with him to the grave.

There were two bodies of humans in his basement, and the writhing of one of them indicated that it was still alive, but its chest had been opened, and it was beyond help. Its throat and stomach had been ripped apart, exposing a bloody mess of organs and tangles of intestines that dripped over its legs, pooling onto the second body which lay rotting beneath it. There was blood: a lot of it-sliding in torrents around globules of torn flesh-covering the dusty floorboards like a blanket. And there was a sound... something like chewing... coming from the far side of the room.

'Haruka,' a low voice rasped. 'I told you not to come down here.'

Sitting quietly in the middle of the horror, shirtless among the dead bodies was Rin.

* * *

Haru didn't know what to do, so he ran. He barely made it halfway across the hall when a strong, bloodied hand grabbed his arm from behind-

'Haru. I can explain this-'

'How? How can you possibly explain-'

Haru broke away and laughed desirably, for the lack of anything better to do. If he didn't laugh, he thought he probably would have thrown up... and then he actually did throw up. The rotten stench of human organs followed Rin out of the door and seemed to swallow Haru's senses like a thick, unwelcome cloak. It was too much for him to handle and he was sick, emptying his stomach across the floor.

Rin crouched down beside Haru.

'Haru, how are you feeling?'

'How the fuck do you think I feel?'

Rin tried to put an arm around Haru's shoulder, but Haru pushed him back and staggered to his feet. With every touch that Rin gave him, he was smearing other peoples blood from his hands all over Haru's clothes and skin-Haru never wanted to touch Rin again.

_Rin's a serial killer... he dragged bodies back to my house and was going to sleep in the basement with them. There's blood all over his mouth and chest... why did he have to go and do something like this? Why? For what possible reason? _

Haru had been happy to have Rin back: so happy, happier than ever before. All he'd wanted was to see Rin again, but now Rin was before him-covered in blood and body fluid-and there mere sight of him made Haru feel nauseous. He wanted to be sick again, but there was nothing left for him to throw up. Bile and cilia rose in his throat as the very air that Haru breathed threatened to suffocate him.

'Why?' Haru whispered. 'Why would you do this...'

Haru wanted to run away and never look back, but his legs wouldn't move. His body had obviously experienced enough, gone into shock and given up, because the edges of his vision had started to grow white. As Rin pulled Haru close, he shivered. Rin smoothed his fingers through Haru's thick, dark hair-Haru hated how gently it was that Rin held him.

'It's alright, Haru. It's alright.'

Blood passed from Rin and stained the front of Haru's night shirt, the smell of it hanging thick in the air. There were people-human beings-bleeding to death in his basement... Rin muffled Haru's scream with his shoulder, stroking his hair as he sobbed. Throughout it all, Rin's voice was slightly melodic... Haru hated himself for liking it. He hated himself for liking the way Rin's arms held him-so strongly and securely moments after hauling corpses-but Haru was desperate for comfort: even if it came from a murderer. He was afraid-he was so afraid; he wanted someone to tell him what he should do.

Rin brought his blood-stained lips to Haru's trembling ones, and gave him a slow, passionate kiss. Haru had experienced enough by this point and wanted to faint, but an annoying, persistent shard of consciousness was still clinging to him, refusing to let him pass out.

'Haru.' Rin said, as he pulled back. 'I have something to tell you. Look at me.'

'Idonwanttoo...'

'Haru, look at my face.'

Rin tiled Haru's chin with a finger, forcing Haru to look upright. Haru wanted to squeeze his eyes shut, but the thought came to him too late.

Rin's eyes glowed a vivid crimson, and his irises gave the impression of swirling with blood. His lips parted and he opened his mouth, where Haru saw two sharp, pointy incisors slip out from the top row of Rin's teeth...

And then Haru really did lose consciousness.

* * *

When Haru came to he was in a kitchen chair, breathing slowly and heavily with a cold cloth placed on his forehead. He couldn't have been out long- maybe five minutes-if the pins and needles in his arms were any indication. He was freezing but sweating, and his vision swayed slightly. Rin had cleaned all the blood from his body and now crouched over Haru in a pair of black boxers.

'Haru. How are you feeling?'

'Okay. I think I'm in shock.'

'Good-that means you're acknowledging what you saw.'

Rin put his hands on Haru's shoulders.

'Stay with me, Haru. Are you here?'

'I…yes.'

'Don't pass out on me again-look at me clearly this time. Say my name.'

'Rin.'

'Say it again.'

'Rin...'

The word was like a mental anchor- every time Haru said it, he felt stronger in himself.

'Rin...'

'Yes: I'm here with you, Haru.'

Haru gripped Rin's shoulders for support.

'I'm scared, Rin.' He whispered. 'What are we going to do? There are dead people in my basement... we're going to be in so much trouble... If someone finds out, we're going to be in so much trouble...'

'I'll take care of it; don't worry about anything. Haru, you're pale.' Rin laughed softly. 'My love, I haven't scared you, have I?'

'Why would you think that?'

Rin hummed to himself.

'So that was sarcasm, huh? You're coming around-I've got you, Haru.'

_I know: that's what I'm worried about._

'Honestly,' Rin heaved a sigh. 'This isn't how I wanted you to find out. I tell you not to go in the basement, and what's the first thing that you decide to do? So much for breaking it to you lightly.'

'What are you?' Haru asked, tiredly. 'Rin, tell me why...'

'Because I'm a vampire.'

'Oh. Okay.'

This was a pretty big confession, but Haru was too exhausted to work up a reaction. He gave no expressions of disbelief and no laughter-just a simple: 'oh. Okay.' What else could he say? In a way, it was kind of a relief to hear: it meant that the deaths of the people in his basement were-to some extent-necessary for Rin. They hadn't just been random slashings, or the result of some twisted urge-Rin needed to kill other humans because he needed their blood in order to stay alive. That didn't make it okay, of course, but still... somehow, it provided Haru with some solace. He supposed that was why he'd accepted it so easily: because, subconsciously, he wanted to forgive Rin. He wanted to find an excuse for what Rin had done.

'That would explain why your teeth are so pointy. Rin, you're a vampire...'

'Yes and no.'

Haru exhaled.

'Rin, are you a vampire or aren't you? You just said you were and now you're not- don't you at least think I deserve to know the truth? After everything I've just seen, don't you think you owe it to me?'

'Haruka, calm down-you're going to give yourself high blood pressure. I'm different to vampires but a little the same: we'll talk more about it later. For now, I think you should go and lie down.'

Haru hadn't listened to the last part of Rin's sentence-all he'd gotten from their ten minutes together were the words: 'I'm a vampire, we'll talk about it later,' and that annoyed him. Still, he was surprised by how well he was taking the situation: a few hours ago if he'd been asked, Haru would have defiantly expected himself to be less than okay with the fact that one of the most important people in his life had become a vampire. Maybe his passiveness was a way of safeguarding his sanity... either way, he was taking it well.

Haru thought back to the bodies in his basement. There had been two- that Haru had saw-and one of them had been wriggling, which meant it was still alive. The better part of Haru wanted to call an ambulance and save that person, but the more logical part of him knew that would be impossible. Their stomach had been opened and their body was horribly mutilated-even if the person did get saved, they wouldn't have much of a life ahead of them. Not to mention that if they lived, they would tell someone about Rin. And Haru, too: the bodies were in _his_ basement. The blame would fall on both of their shoulders. He was in the same boat as Rin, now.

'Rin... when you climbed in bed with me the other night...'

'Yeah, you guessed it: I was thinking about biting you.'

Haru set his head in his hands and drew a breath of... something. Relief to be alive? Frustration toward Rin? Toward himself for letting Rin in? Haru gritted his teeth.

Rin dropped into a kitchen chair opposite Haru, but obviously didn't find sitting like a normal person fulfilling enough because he quickly decided that he'd be more comfortable hanging from the chair with his head on the floor so that he could stare at Haru from upside down. He smiled innocently at Haru.

'Now that you're awake, I require a kiss.'

'You don't deserve a kiss. Rin, you climbed into my bed with the intent to kill me and the only reason why you didn't was because you decided you'd rather feel me up instead-why would I want to kiss someone like that?'

'I wasn't going to _kill_ you. Haru, I just wanted to give you a tiny, tiny bite.'

'It boils down to the same thing and you know it.'

Haru crossed his arms over his chest and turned away from Rin in annoyance.

'Are you mad at me? Haru, I came back to see you... this was the first place I went after coming back to Iwatobi. I missed you-I couldn't stop thinking about you. Doesn't that at least count for something between us?'

Haru didn't want to hear how much Rin loved and missed him, because he had no real way of measuring how genuine the words were; Haru still didn't know about Rin's true intentions. He walked around wearing a smile, with blood covered hands and told Haru that he loved him-it was very difficult to distinguish his motives. But still, there was something bothering him-

'Why _didn't _you bite me?' Haru asked curiously.

''Cause you'd die if I did,' Rin replied, moodily. 'Haru, if biting you would turn you into a vampire then I'd have done it in your sleep by now. Unfortunately,' he slid up on the chair. 'I don't know how this condition works. I've done some experimenting but it's all the same: all the people who I've bitten bled to death through their holes and passed away; none of them ever resurrected. I don't know if it's random, or every one in a hundred-I literally haven't got a clue. And the weirdest part is,' he heaved a sigh. 'I don't remember how it happened to me. Long story short, I didn't bite you because I wanted you to stay alive... and I've decided that I want to be with you.'

Rin had crawled up from the chair, climbed over to Haru and begun stroking his face. Haru caught Rin's hands in his own, angrily.

'Why are you so obsessed with me? Don't say: 'it's because I love you.'

'But I do love you.'

'Yeah, right-you hardly know me! You were planning to suck my body dry and then after sex you've magically fallen in love-to you, I'm just a convenient toy.'

'No, I remember,' Rin mumbled. 'How happy I used to feel around you. We were just kids when we first met, but we were so compatible... at least, that's how I always felt; I don't know if it was the same for you. We were always half serious and half messing around... but even then-at eleven years old-I think we both realised how much we meant to each other. I think the two of us knew, even then, that we were always going to be in love.'

Rin pressed his forehead against Haru's.

'I'm the same, Haru,' Rin whispered. 'I'm the same.'

'R-Rin, this situation. We need to try-'

Haru didn't get a chance to finish: Rin's lips crashed down against his as he pulled Haru up into his arms.

'We'll talk about this tomorrow, okay? I want to go to bed with you... Haru, I want to take you upstairs...'

To Haru, Rin was a murderer with no regard for human life... but he was also good at kissing, and in that moment, that was exactly what Haru needed. The warmth and tenderness of his mouth was so inviting, because Haru _needed_ an escape: he needed something to take him away from everything he'd seen and heard that night. And the way Rin touched him made his body go _crazy_-

_No.__..__ I don't know... yes... YES..._

He didn't want to be with someone like Rin...

* * *

...so why was Haru lying naked on top of him, bed sheets soaked with sweat from where the two of them had spent the night?

'Rin...' Haru breathed. 'Can't do it... gonna cum...'

'Haru.' Rin brushed a strand of hair behind Haru's ears. 'Haru, look at me... look at my face...'

'Oh...'

As Rin hissed in pleasure, Haru could clearly see his fangs. They could come in and out as Rin liked and now scraped against Haru's palm-not digging into his skin-but scratching softly as Rin kissed his hand, slipping his fingers into his mouth and sucking. Haru rode Rin gently, shuddering with lust as he rocked back and forth.

Haru felt as if he were trapped in a surreal dream that had started running itself: there were bodies downstairs and blood in the bathroom drain where Rin had showered to clean himself, and Rin had fangs and was currently wrapping his arms around Haru, who was pressing his opening on top of Rin... who was joining with Rin, and making love with Rin... and the room was spinning and everything was so _hot_... everything felt obscure but it was _wonderful_-

'I want to bite you so badly.' Rin laughed. 'But I don't want to kill you. I don't want to risk the chance of losing you... my Haru...'

Haru laughed awkwardly.

'Can't we talk about this later?'

Haru's fingers entwined with Rin's atop of Haru's chest. Haru's heart was pounding and his breathing was erratic, but he felt so very comfortable... He could feel Rin cum inside of his body-

Haru didn't see Rin as a monster or something to be frightened of: he saw Rin as Rin... his Rin. The same Rin who'd swum beside him in a relay, the same Rin he'd made blanket forts with as a child, and the same Rin he'd walked along the beach with five years ago-collecting shells and climbing between rock pools-soaking their feet in the overlapping waves, laughing as they played tag and tried to push each other into the sea. Even if he was covered in blood-even if he lay among a carnage of bodies-he was still the same as before. And that was why Haru couldn't be afraid of him.

_It doesn't matter what happened to Rin, because Rin is still Rin... isn't he?_

Haru closed his eyes, curled against Rin's chest and fell asleep, holding onto that thought.

* * *

'The dead bodies in the basement...'

'Are we seriously going to talk about this now?'

'Yes, we're talking about it now.'

Haru had slept surprisingly well and had taken a bath with Rin the next morning. The blinds were pulled down so the sunlight didn't come through, but Rin was still visibly tense at the concept of being awake during daylight. Haru scrubbed the blood from Rin's hair that hadn't come out in the shower and gotten stuck, playing with the individual strands between the bubbles and foam.

Haru had climbed into the bath behind Rin, not trusting Rin with his bare back. Surely enough at the front, Rin had started to get fidgety- occasionally he'd snake a hand backwards to try and grasp Haru's leg, feeling his way along Haru's bare skin underneath the bathwater. Haru would splash him whenever this happened: Rin didn't like being splashed. He was kind of like a grumpy cat, Haru mused: cruel in the way it tortured and played with mice, but still very loveable... even if he made it difficult.

'I need to eat.' Rin exhaled. 'You don't expect me to die, do you, Haru? I was hungry last night, so I went out and got something: that's really all there is to it.'

'I thought vampires only drunk blood. The person I saw... he had his stomach ripped open. Rin, I'm pretty sure that he was missing some vital organs, too.'

'I don't just drink blood,' Rin looked away. 'Blood isn't enough for me-it's kind of like orange juice for you. It's sweet and delicious, but I can't live from it-I need human meat to run properly.'

'Have you tried animal meat?'

'It's too weak. I still have my sense of taste so it tastes good, but it doesn't give me enough energy-it's the same with regular food.'

'So you eat people's organs, too?'

'Yeah-I eat everything but the skeleton and hair. Hair is disgusting.' Rin lay back against Haru's collar bone. 'One adult male can keep me full for about two and a half weeks, but I think it depends on how much energy I use. My favourite part of a person is the heart-it's chewy and delicious.'

Rin ate hearts to stay alive... Haru couldn't help but find that somewhat ironic. He rubbed gel into Rin's shoulders, smoothing his red locks away from his face. Rin pulled his legs up to his chest and slid down on Haru's lap, to wash the shampoo from his hair in the water.

'I won't ever eat you, my Haru-if that's what you're worried about.'

'Why not? It's like a trigger, isn't it?'

'No. My hunger instincts are the same as yours.'

When Haru didn't reply, Rin continued-

'Listen: I don't look at you and think: 'mmn, that looks delicious,' in the same way you wouldn't look at a living cow and think: 'I'd love to take a bite out of that.'

'Did you seriously just compare me to a cow...' Haru murmured. Rin leaned up and kissed his face.

'Sorry,' he hummed. 'It was a metaphor. People don't look that tasty until their insides are exposed, and even then it's not like I can't control it. I eat because if I don't, I'd starve to death-it's as simple as that.'

'How does your body even digest that?'

'Because my body is different-it changed. I didn't die and my immune system didn't stop; it just became impeccable- every part of me improved. My CNS is still up and running, too, so even though I heal almost instantly I can still feel pain. I'm alive, Haru-feel for yourself.'

Rin took Haru's hand in his and placed it gingerly over his heart. Through the palm of his hand, Haru could feel a slow beat: the steady rhythm of blood as it thumped. As well as that, Rin's hand was warm and familiar against his own. Haru could feel his lungs as they rose and fell, and could see the slight flush on Rin's cheeks from the hot bathwater: all of these things were evidence of life.

_Rin's alive... he's just changed. There's no doubt about it-I can feel his heartbeat._

Haru pulled back his hand.

'People usually die when they get bitten by vampires.'

'Oh, I'm sorry.' Rin breathed out. 'Excuse me for not being standard vampire procedure. And anyway, what do you mean 'usually?' Are vampire attacks a regular occurrence?'

'Not really.'

'Have you ever been bitten by a vampire?'

'Not really.'

'Then shut up.' Rin pinched his nipple. 'Know it all.'

Haru sighed to himself and set his head in Rin's shoulder. He squeezed Rin's ribs tight-like hugging a pillow- not sure if he was the one who needed comfort, or if he was the one comforting Rin. Either way, it felt good just to hold him; when Haru was with Rin, the rest of the world just... slipped away.

'I'm glad, Haru.' Rin said softly.

'Glad? Why?'

'Because I have you, and that means you belong to me. I thought that by the time I got back, you would have a girlfriend. I was worried that I'd have to bite her and work my way back up to you... but it looks like I got stressed over nothing. You like other men, don't you... my Haru?'

_So Rin is the jealous type... huh._

Haru honestly hadn't thought about his sexuality: he'd kind of just felt Rin beside him, decided: 'okay, I like this,' and went with the feeling.

'I don't know,' he confessed. 'I've never thought about it before.'

Rin giggled.

'Haruka's Rin-sexual!'

'Rin, shut up, before I splash you again. It's too early to say what I feel. Right now, I'm... curious, I guess.'

Rin nuzzled lovingly against Haru's cheek, rubbing his nose against the wet strands of Haru's hair.

'Haru,' he said, with a laugh. 'Curiosity can _kill_.'

Haru breathed in sharply and kissed Rin, tightening his arms around his waist and pulling him backwards against the bubbles. Haru guessed that he could skip school today... after everything he'd experienced, he felt like he deserved it. And besides, Rin's lips felt _so good_... they seemed to kiss away all of his problems, one by one... they took him to a better place.

Haru wasn't sure how he was going to work everything out-and didn't know if human was the right word- but Rin was still Rin: and for him, that was enough.

He'd find a way to get Rin through this, somehow.

Should hell or high water threaten to stand between them.


	3. Dismantle and Blemish

**Luuka:** herein we have chapter two. Same warnings as written in the prelude, but I don't think this chapter actually uses any of them. (Next chapter makes up for it.)

Again, it would be great if you could review!

* * *

'Haru?'

'Hmn?'

'I love you so much... so much. You'll make a vow to me, won't you?'

'A vow?'

'Yes: to be with me forever.'

* * *

The stars in the night's sky twinkled like silver gems on a velvet cloth. But a fog was coming: the stars were fading. Sinking into the depths of a black abyss...

'Haru... will you give yourself to me?'

'I don't understand what that means.'

'Exactly what it says-I want you to be mine. I want you to_ let_ yourself be mine.'

Haru still didn't understand what Rin was talking about, but it was very romantic. He'd taken Haru down to the ocean to swim with him one Friday night, wrapped his arms around his waist as they floated in the water, and he whispered softly into Haru's ear.

In hindsight, Haru probably shouldn't have agreed to something that he didn't understand, but he'd just assumed Rin was being melodramatic-Rin did have a tendency to do that, after all. To Haru, it just seemed as if Rin was very dramatically asking him to be his boyfriend... so naturally he'd said yes without a moment of hesitation.

'Yes, I'll be with you, Rin. For as long as you need me to be.'

'I need forever. Can you give me that?'

'Yes.'

'Then you're mine, Haru.' Rin rasped. 'Both your body and soul are mine.'

Haru shifted in Rin's arms-Rin's tongue was a little too close to his ear. Not that he minded, but they were outside and the water had suddenly started to feel chilly. Had the sea been this cold moments ago? Haru broke free and climbed onto a pier, shivering as his bare skin met the crisp night air.

Rin bobbed up and down in the water, set his arms over the side of the pier and smiled.

'Try not to break our vow together, okay? I'll be with you always... my Haruka.'

* * *

Over the weekend, Haru became accustomed to living with Rin: a fact that surprised even himself. Having lived alone for the best part of his life-and having always considered himself a person who rather enjoyed their own solitude-Haru found it strange that he should feel so comfortable with Rin's constant presence. But the simple truth was that Haru liked Rin: he liked everything Rin had to offer. He liked discovering Rin's personality, he liked the way Rin's emotions displayed so obviously on his face and he liked talking and being with Rin, which was why he'd spent his Sunday afternoon curled up with Rin in his bed.

'You're not a real vampire.' Haru told Rin. 'Because you don't have a Transylvanian accent.'

'I'm pretty sure that's not a requirement of being a vampire.'

'It is. I'll fight you over it.'

Haru climbed on top of Rin and pinned him down against the mattress. Rin laughed excitedly as he allowed Haru to push him down with all his strength, bumping their noses together as they wrestled.

'As slender as you are?' Rin giggled. 'Bring it on!'

'I know your weak spot. I can grab your pants.'

'How tactical.'

'I have other ways.'

'I'm sure you do.'

Haru rolled onto his side, leaning across to bite Rin gently on the nose.

'Rin, did you turn into a bat and fly back from Australia?'

'No,' Rin frowned. 'I took an aeroplane.'

'Boring.' Haru said, with a sigh. 'What's the point of having supernatural powers if you're not going to abuse them?'

'Well, excuse me-I never asked to be bitten. I can't turn into a bat, Haru-nor any other animal that I'm aware of.'

'Lame. What other superpowers do you have?'

'Superpowers? Hmm...' Rin begun to count his fingers. 'You mean other than healing practically as soon as I get a wound, having more stamina, being stronger, having better intelligence, having sharper teeth, being able to run faster, having better senses, oh, and did I mention never ageing? Well... there is this other thing: it's kind of like a sixth sense.'

'You mean ESP?'

Rin shook his head.

'It's nothing as exciting as mind reading. I can feel people's emotions... it's kind of like hyper-sensitivity. Like you, now: I can tell how you feel. Haru, your emotions are bouncing up and down and that means that you're happy; even though you're not letting it show, I can sense it through the air. I think it's because my senses are more developed so they can pick up changes in body heat and perspiration... that's my theory, anyway.'

'S'ss weird, I think.'

Rin poked Haru's cheek with a finger.

'I don't expect a mere mortal like you to understand the mechanisms of higher beings.'

'What the hell?' Haru laughed. 'Rin, you don't even understand it yourself...'

Rin's eyelids kept drooping, but he was trying very hard to keep himself awake: both of these things Haru found very cute. It was almost midday, and Haru supposed Rin didn't usually stay awake until then... he kissed Rin understandingly on the forehead.

'You can rest now. I'll see you tonight.'

Too late-Rin had already fallen asleep.

* * *

That morning, Rin had also told Haru that he'd been announced missing in Australia; he'd explained to Haru that it was just easier to disappear than it was to confront his family about what had happened to him. He'd said that his mother wouldn't be the type to accept him and that it would only bring problems and stress to his sister, which was why he'd made the choice to leave them both behind... and then he'd added, unhappily: 'I miss my sister,' as an afterthought.

Haru had felt a twinge of sympathy for Rin at this point: in Haru's eyes, Rin flickered between villain and victim. On one side of the argument, Rin hadn't asked to be bitten by a vampire, but on the other side, he hadn't exactly shown a lot of remorse for all the people he'd killed, either-at least, not outwardly, anyway. But still, Haru had found this interesting:

'So, this means that turning into vampires isn't a Matsuoka family trait that happens at seventeen?'

'No.'

'Are you sure? Does your family have a history of drinking blood?'

'No.'

'Then that means it was someone else who bit you. Can you think of anyone who that could be?'

'No.'

They hadn't learned anything new about Rin's situation, but Haru felt like he knew more about Rin as an individual- and that made him feel happy.

Even if a small part of him did suspect that somewhere, Rin had told him a lie.

* * *

At seven pm., Haru was cooking in the kitchen when he heard the soft pitter-patter of feet as Rin came downstairs. For how muscled and heavy he was, Rin certainly had a way of carrying his weight- he could slip around noiselessly, and creep up behind Haru without so much as a warning. Sort of like what he was doing, now.

'What's this?' He asked Haru, as he slipped a hand beneath Haru's shirt.

'Breakfast. Well-for you, anyway.'

Rin looked up over Haru's shoulder at the spread of food on the kitchen table, cocking his head ninety degrees at it as if he didn't quite understand. Haru pushed him down into a chair.

'Just try it.' He said, exasperatedly. 'I thought it would be nice for us to eat together.'

'You can always come and eat with _me_, Haru.'

Haru chose to ignore that comment. He took the chair opposite Rin and watched him hopefully for any signs of approval.

'Is the food doing anything to your hunger?'

Rin shook his head.

'It's gone down by maybe a fraction of an inch: to be honest, I could probably get more nutrients from the air than this whole table put together. But I still have my sense of taste- your cooking is delicious.'

Haru looked down at his own untouched food: he had something that he wanted to discuss with Rin, and doubted the other man would take it well. Oh, well- take a breath and try, he supposed.

'Rin... listen: I don't want you to eat humans. From now on, you're not to kill anybody else.'

'Haru,' Rin's eyes became cold. 'You do realise what you're asking me to do? I've tried living on normal food before and it's _not enough_. It will be the same again.'

'You don't know that for sure... Rin, you can't kill any more people! The media have probably picked up on the last two you took- even one person going missing is enough to attract national attention, let alone several people on a regular basis. It won't be long before they make a link and come to us for questions. And besides...' Haru looked away. 'It's just wrong.'

'Humans kill each other all the time for stupid and pointless reasons, but when I do it to stay alive then you find that 'wrong?' Haru... you're asking me to die.'

'I'm not-I'm just asking you to give me a chance. Rin... there has to be a way around this. Animal meat is basically the same as human meat, so if I buy you enough of it you should be able to survive, right?'

Rin gave a resigned sigh.

'Me or other people,' he said, finally. 'That's what this comes down to, Haru. I'll try it again if that's what you want, but I can promise you that nothing is going to change. Oh, well.' He poked an egg yolk. 'I guess it will give you some time. You can think about how much you love me now I'm like this... if at all.'

Haru looked to the floor; suddenly, he didn't feel so confident in their topic of conversation.

Haru had wanted to do what was right, but the word 'right' was hard to define. There was a: 'what was right for Rin' and: 'what was right for society' and: 'what was right by moral standards' and: 'what was right for Haru...' but all of them were so vague- so difficult just to pinpoint.

'I'm going to take a bath.'

Haru was running away-running away from the idea that Rin had presented to him, because it was too troublesome to think about; because Haru wasn't sure just _how_ to approach it. Stress was accumulating one grain at a time.

As Haru climbed into the bathtub, he tried to clear his head and think about the way he felt.

Haru loved Rin-more than anybody else-but he felt as if he were stuck in a limbo. Haru didn't want to be surrounded by dead bodies, but he didn't want to leave Rin, either-he loved Rin too much to let him go, and too much to turn him away and leave him on his own. To him, Rin was a very precious person... he'd been the first person to come close to Haru emotionally and the person who'd taught Haru to appreciate himself. Haru had never had any self-confidence, but Rin had given him some of his; Rin had changed Haru from a lonely introvert into a confident human being.

At eleven years old, Haru's parents had ran away overseas and his Grandmother whom cared for him had clearly begun reaching the end of her life. Haru had felt small, lonely and trapped, as if sitting at the bottom of a dark abyss. When Haru jumped and stretched out his hand he could almost pull himself out of the blackness, but he wasn't tall enough- by just a few centimetres. He kept stretching out his hand, and stretching out his hand, but everyone else had looked down on him: everyone else had looked away and walked past. Just when Haru had given up, Rin had come along and offered his and with a grin-and the abyss had disappeared, revealing the colourful world that surrounded it. The world that Rin had brought him into... Haru shut his eyes and sunk underneath the bathwater.

Now, Rin was the one who needed someone to stretch out a hand: Rin was the one who needed someone to understand him. Haru had decided that he was going to do everything he could in order to stay with Rin and fix what had happened to him. And if he couldn't fix Rin, well...

Haru came up from the water with a gasp.

He supposed he'd hold Rin's hand as they fell down together, into the pits of hell itself.

* * *

The first few days of Rin's new diet plan passed smoothly, but that was only to be expected; Rin still had two bodies in the basement. Although the body of an adult could keep Rin full for around eighteen days, he was presented with a new problem: humans didn't keep very well after they died. The smell had managed to rise up from the basement door and get past the air-fresheners in the hallway, and-as he'd told Haru several times before- Rin couldn't eat dead bodies that were rotten.

They'd put some organs in clingfilm and moved them to Haru's freezer but the rationing was clearly affecting Rin: during his first week on animal meat alone, Rin's behaviour changed for the worst. He'd become restless and frustrated- demanding and easy to aggravate-and did everything in his power in order to make sure that Haru was aware of every second of his discomfort. Want, want, want-all Rin seemed to do was want. He wanted to be entertained, he wanted to find something to eat and he wanted Haru's attention-Haru's constant attention. His emotions were either extreme or non-existent: Rin got angry at everything and nothing, upset at unimportant things but couldn't care less about others. He never put a hand on Haru, but the rest of the house suffered for it: he'd knock over coffee tables and chairs without obvious reasons why, kick doors closed and throw things across the room, hang from the furniture and growl when Haru ignored him. Other times, he wouldn't speak for hours. He was... difficult, to stay the least.

Haru found Rin irritating, but at the same time he could understand it- Rin had told Haru that 3kg of animal meat gave him the same amount of energy as a handful of rye would for Haru. Day by day, Rin would become more demanding: the best-or perhaps, worst-example of this begun on the Sunday night of Rin's first week without human meat, and would be the start of a chain of events that Haru would later regret allowing to get out of hand.

* * *

'Rin.'

It was six o'clock when Haru found Rin alone in the living room. Haru stood in the middle of the room wearing his waterproof coat and a rucksack over his shoulder.

'Rin, I won't be able to stay home tonight; I promised Nagisa and Makoto that I'd go night-fishing with them. You remember them both from the relays we used to do, don't you? Do you want to come with us?'

No response. Rin was sitting on his own in a corner, facing a wall and messing around with a Rubik's cube.

_Rin, you can sulk all you want: I'm going out either way._

'Anyway, I'm leaving now. I probably won't get back until around eleven but I'll make time for you then, okay? I love you.'

Haru had barely finished turning around when the door snapped shut behind him, and two strong arms locked around his stomach.

'You're not going,' Rin told Haru, sternly. 'Haru, you're staying here with me.'

Haru had anticipated this: he'd known there would be some level of resistance, and he was ready to combat it.

'I'm sorry, Rin, but it's not your place to decide just _what_ I do in my spare time. If you don't want to be alone, you're more than welcome to come along-'

'No- I don't want to be around anyone but you. Haru, you should feel the same way as well: you shouldn't need friends now that you have me to love you. I want you to forget about them; I never want you to speak to either one of them again.'

Rin had begun sucking Haru's earlobe and running his hands along Haru's thighs. Haru didn't know if Rin thought that what he was saying was romantic-or if he was just speaking out of spite- but Rin's words weren't resonating with Haru: on the contrary, they were pushing him away.

Haru didn't like the direction in which Rin was steering their conversation- this was a direct attempt from Rin to control him, and Haru knew that if he gave in here it would open the floodgates to Rin's demands in the future.

'Why can't I love you and have friends at the same time?'

'Because they'd only get in the way. Haru, I'm here with you now: you don't _need _them anymore. You have no use for third and fourth wheels-'

'How can you talk about them like that? Rin... I can't believe this-I thought you'd be happy to see everyone again! Nagisa and Makoto are your friends as well... didn't the time we spent together as kids mean anything to you at all?'

Rin pulled away from Haru.

'You were all that ever mattered to me, Haru-you were the only thing that I ever cared about! I thought it was the same for you, but obviously I was mistaken.'

'Don't start.' Haru snapped in response. 'Don't start being difficult, Rin, just because you can't get your own way! You know that you're wrong in this: I'm not giving up my friends just because you say. There are other people in my life than you, so you'd better get used to that.'

Rin's lips curled-enough to let Haru see his fangs-but Haru didn't falter: he knew that he'd annoyed Rin but he didn't care. He got to the door when Rin spoke up:

'I'm coming.'

'_What_?'

'I'm coming with you. Haru, I want to see the others.'

* * *

Haru didn't buy that Rin was interested in seeing Nagisa and Makoto, but at the same time supposed it couldn't hurt to bring him along; Haru didn't want another disagreement. The worst thing that Rin could do would be to close down and ignore everyone... at least, that was what Haru had thought, anyway.

For an autumn evening it was surprisingly dim- dark enough for Rin to feel comfortable but at the same time, light enough for Haru to see. What little light remained was slowly dying- fading away into the blackness that ebbed at it-staining Iwatobi with shadows. Nagisa and Makoto stood waiting on a patch of grass located five minutes away from Haru's house-both of them were smiling and waving.

'Rin's back?' Makoto gasped. 'Haru, you didn't say anything about him to me!'

'Rin-chan, it's so good to see you again!' Nagisa laughed.

Rin kept very close to Haru, and regarded Nagisa and Makoto as though they were filthy. Haru had begun to regret bringing Rin along, but it was already too late to take him back home now.

'Oh!' Nagisa noticed. 'Haru-chan and Rin-chan are holding hands!'

_Holding _hands was the wrong statement, Haru thought: Haru hadn't gotten a say in the matter. Rin had suddenly grabbed his hand and refused to let go, no matter how much Haru tugged; Rin's grip was a lot firmer than his, so that Haru couldn't pull back without making a scene.

_Rin's doing that thing where he gets all protective, and see's threats in the smallest of things. Not only is it annoying but it's also embarrassing-Rin, don't you understand? Nagisa and Makoto aren't going to hurt you. They're our friends-just like back then._

'Aww, too bad.' Nagisa laughed. 'I guess that means Haru-chan is already taken, huh? Ah, just when I thought I'd finally found love... I had our wedding all planned out, and everything. Oh, well!' He winked playfully at Haru. 'You and Rin-chan are a really good match!'

Makoto and Haru both smiled gently, but Rin didn't seem to find Nagisa's teasing funny. Nagisa moved forward to hug Haru when Rin stepped in front of him, suddenly-

'No!' Rin snarled. 'Haruka is _mine_! Nobody else can have him!'

Nagisa skidded to a halt and his eyes went wide in surprise.

'What is your _problem_?' Haru snapped at Rin, angrily. 'Rin, stop it-you're embarrassing us both!'

'Embarrassing?' Rin yelled in response. 'Haru, no one else is allowed to touch you: nobody else is allowed to talk about you like that! You belong to me-you gave yourself to me-'

'Stop it,' he mumbled to Rin. 'Just stop it! If this is what you came here to do, then stop it... this isn't fair...'

'Heeeyyy,' Nagisa interrupted, nervously. 'You guys, I was kidding around... let's all try not to fight... We should all just get along! Rin-chan, we're going to go fishing: let's try and catch lots of big ones, okay?'

Rin turned away from Haru very slightly and did an analysis of Nagisa through his crimson eyes.

'Annoying.' He summarized. 'Haruka, let's both go home: I feel like fucking you really hard tonight.'

'_Rin_!' Haru wailed the word. 'Nagisa and Makoto are _right there_!'

Haru wanted to melt through the grass, turn into a cloud of smoke and disappear. He wasn't sure how much more of Rin's jealousy he could take-or why Rin was even feeling jealous to begin with. Haru knew that Rin probably felt moody due to how hungry he was, but he was very far away from sympathising with Rin at this point.

'Unfortunately we won't be coming with you,' Rin said, to Nagisa and Makoto. 'Haru is fed up with both of you. So, we're going home. Right now.'

Rin tried to drag Haru away, but Haru wretched his hand free.

'Rin,' he growled. 'Go back alone. I'm staying here tonight, and if you think I'll let this go...'

'It's okay, it's okay!' Makoto had clearly sensed an argument on the horizon and decided to intervene early. 'It's fine if the two of you can't come with us tonight-really, it's completely okay! Another time... Let's go, Nagisa. See you at school on Monday, Haru.'

'Aww, too bad-I wanted everyone to come! See you later, Rin-chan, Haru-chan! Goodnight!'

Haru and Rin trudged back to Haru's house in silence. When they got to the front door, Rin turned around to Haru and smiled.

'Well,' he said, happily. 'I'm glad that worked itself out in the end.'

Haru drew back a hand and slapped Rin across the face. For a split second, a pink handprint shone on Rin's cheek and then-as quickly as it had appeared- the mark healed over, leaving no trace. Rin turned his head slightly at the contact, but not another muscle so much as twitched in his body.

'Your behaviour today was appalling.' Haru told Rin, angrily. 'Rin, I'm disgusted by the way you treated me! You don't have the right to control me, you don't have the right to humiliate me and you don't have the right to claim ownership over my body... no matter how you may feel about me. I'm going to bed: don't come upstairs with me. I've had more of you than I can take today.'

Then he walked inside the house, leaving Rin alone in the darkness.

Rin stood in the space where Haru had slapped him for several minutes... the same space where he'd first asked Haru if he could come in all those days ago, he thought to himself. After a few minutes Haru appeared in his bedroom window and scowled down at Rin, before shutting his curtains. Rin stared up at the window even after Haru had left, raising a hand to gingerly touch his cheek.

The impact mark of the slap had long healed over thanks to his superb cells, but it still seemed to sting there: for some reason, his cheek still tingled. Sparks of phantom pain were shooting across Rin's skin like a fierce, electrical current, brought about by Haru's touch.

'_You don't have the right to control me... I've had more of you than I can take today..._' Haru's words echoed in Rin's ears.

'I'm very upset to hear that, Haru.' He whispered. A thin smile crept across his lips.


	4. Melting Down

**Luuka:** Soo much editing went into this chapter. (luuka proceeds to curl up in a hole and sleep) I also changed the title because the old one was temporary and lame-still not sure about this one, but whatever.

This chapter leans into horror territory and there's a lot of dark 'body worship' (uh) and the mixing of blood between sex, which I guess is a sensitive issue-I'm marking it because you can never be safe enough.

* * *

It was still early when Haru climbed into bed on Sunday night-barley seven p.m.-and Haru couldn't manage to settle. Rin had been outside of his bedroom window, staring up at him again... Haru didn't know if he couldn't sleep because Rin had unnerved him, or because he still felt aggravated about the way Rin had behaved; either way, he was restless. He needed to pull himself together.

Haru felt as if he was in the dark with Rin-literally and metaphorically. He knew next to nothing about Rin's situation, and felt a degree of unfairness toward the way Rin approached their 'romance;' Rin had formulated his own idea of love and wanted Haru to mould around that concept. Rin's idea of 'love' came with a different degree of dedication: Rin needed Haru _now_ and _forever_, he needed Haru to love _Rin_ and _Rin alone_, and he needed their loyalty to be written in blood instead of ink. Haru did love Rin-with all of his heart-but he didn't want to be pushed around and live in fear of Rin's teeth for the rest of his life.

Haru had also slapped Rin that evening: he doubted Rin had taken_ that_ well. Not only was Rin hypersensitive, but he was also hyper_emotional_-Haru knew that Rin would take a slap around the face with the same degree of seriousness as Haru plunging a knife into his stomach; Rin would see it as an admission of war against everything that he was. Haru ran his fingers through his fringe-he couldn't leave things the way they were. So, he climbed out of bed, made himself a cup of tea and padded into the living room.

Rin lay curled on an opposite sofa with his legs over the side, playing with his hair. He showed no indication of noticing Haru, but occasionally would sigh and roll into a different position. Every so often, Haru would glare at him-

'Got a problem?' Rin asked, after five minutes.

'Not particularly.'

'You're glaring at me.'

'You're easy to glare at.'

Rin laughed.

'You know, something gives me the feeling that Haru_ka _doesn't like me as deeply as I like him.'

'Haru-_ka_ would like you a lot more if you didn't patronize him all of the time.'

'Still mad about earlier?'

'Absolutely.'

'Fine.'

'_Fine_.'

Rin had obviously gotten bored with Haru because he walked off into a different room. Barley five minutes passed until he came back-

'Haru-kaaaa,' he nuzzled into Haru's neck. 'Don't cast me away like that. I'm getting withdrawal symptoms-'

'You're not getting withdrawal symptoms.'

'I am.'

'You're not. And I didn't cast you away-you walked out of the room by yourself.'

Rin laughed gently into Haru's ear and circled his arms around Haru's waist.

'Haru,' he breathed. 'Apologise to me.'

'_What_?'

'I love you more than anyone else, so I'm going to give you a chance to say sorry. I want you to apologise for hitting me, and saying those cruel things about me tonight.'

Haru laughed desirably.

'Rin, you deserved exactly what you got, so no-no, I'm not going to say sorry. If anything, you're the one who needs to apologise. The way you behaved was out of order.'

'That's a shame,' Rin swept Haru's hair behind his ears. 'Oh, well.' He kissed Haru's face. 'Don't blame me when you agonise.'

'_Agonize_?' Haru clenched his fists. 'Rin, if you're threatening me-'

'I'm not. I'd never hurt you, Haru; you know I'd never put a single hand on your body. I'm going for a run. See you later.'

'You're not going anywhere! Rin-'

Haru barley registered the end of Rin's sentence before he heard the front door slam shut: Rin could move _fast _when he wanted. Haru gave an aggravated sigh and turned back to the television, thoughts panning through his head idly as he watched.

_Rin said he wasn't going to hurt me... but he also said: 'don't blame me when you agonise.' Does that mean he'll hurt me indirectly? Will Rin make someone else hurt me? Rin wouldn't__..._

Haru pulled his legs up to his chest: suddenly, the room felt _freezing._ It wasn't even eight p.m., but Haru decided to give his bed another try-sleep was reluctant to come and even when it finally did, it didn't last: the ringing of Haru's cell phone woke him up around 3a.m., displaying an unknown number on the screen.

'Hello?'

'Um, excuse me... is this Haruka Nanase?'

It was a young woman on the other end of the phone: Haru didn't recognise her voice but judging by her tone, she seemed tired: Haru had to bet that whoever she was, she hadn't gotten any sleep tonight, either.

'Yes, speaking.'

'Excuse me for calling you at such a terrible hour. I'm... I'm one of Nagisa's older sisters; I don't think we've met before. I got your number from my mother-I hope you don't mind-I'm just calling to ask: Nagisa isn't with you... is he?'

'You mean he hasn't come home?'

Now Haru was wide awake. And cold-he felt so cold...

'N-no... I heard he went fishing with you and Makoto, but Makoto hasn't heard from him, either. They live some distance away from each other, so after fishing they separated... Makoto got home at eleven but Nagisa hasn't come back yet. None of us can reach his phone. None of us have any idea where he is...'

Haru flung open his curtains and took a look outside. Rin wasn't out there: of course. Haru took off down the stairs, throwing open doors like a hurricane-

'RIN! Where the hell are you?'

Silence. Rin obviously wasn't in the house.

_Rin wouldn't_... Haru stopped that trail of thought. Wait-was there anything that Rin wouldn't? Were there any lengths that Rin really wouldn't go to?

Trembling, Haru pulled out his phone, tapped in Rin's number and placed the speaker to his ear.

One ring... two rings... Rin obviously had taken his phone with him but had deliberately chosen to ignore Haru's calls, because Haru couldn't hear Rin's phone ringing in the house. On the third call, he finally picked up.

'Third time lucky. Aren't you eager to reach me, my Haru?'

'Where's Nagisa?'

A soft laugh.

'Calm down. Haru, humans shouldn't be awake at this time of night. You're going to damage your health-'

'Rin, if anything's happened to him... if you've done anything... I'll never forgive you...'

'Ohh, it's too late for that, my love. Haru, you're not being very cooperative... Nagisa is still okay. You could save him-maybe: I don't know. But definitely not with that attitude.'

'I'm sorry,' Haru spoke the words through gritted teeth. 'Rin, I'm sorry I've upset you, now please tell me where he is!'

'You know where the wind turbines are, right? Last time I saw him, he was sleeping in a hedge, leaking blood all over the place... but I wouldn't go after him, if I were you.'

'Why not?'

'Because,' Rin was serious now. 'Haru, it's him or our relationship-only one of them can survive. Make a decision. Oh, and... hurry.'

The line clicked and the phone went dead.

_Why is he doing this?_ Angry tears burned in Haru's eyes. _Why is Rin being so spiteful? I thought we'd come to an understanding: I thought we'd finally connected with one another, but then he does something like this..._

Haru shook his head to dismiss the drops. No: he wasn't going to cry just yet. He had to focus on finding Nagisa: he had to focus on getting Nagisa back alive.

* * *

Immediately after his conversation with Rin, Haru called an ambulance to the wind turbines and took off on his own by foot. By the time he reached the turbines, his face was red from sprinting and his lungs felt as if they were going to collapse. It was pitch black and the hill was stained with shadows-just as Haru took out his phone to use it as a flashlight, the device vibrated with a text from Rin:

'Haru. There's something you should know: Nagisa saw me attack him. If he survives, he's going to tell other people about me and this will be the end. There's a knife by Nagisa's body: if you really love me, you'll know what to do. All the best, my Haru_._'

_Rin, you're crazy... you've lost it..._

Haru stumbled through the bushes, tearing them apart frantically until he found...

_Oh._

Nagisa was curled in a fetal position on the grass with his eyes closed, blood leaking from a slit at the base of his neck. His pink zip-up was stained with dark, sticky patches which Haru made out to be blood in the darkness; there was a flip up knife beside his body, which Haru ignored. He dragged Nagisa to the centre of the hill and laid him down on his back before dropping to his knees beside him, pressing an ear against the younger man's chest.

Breathing: Nagisa was still breathing, and he had a pulse-it was faint but it was there; Haru felt sick with relief. He didn't know anything about treating wounds other than that he should stop the bleeding, so he set his hands on Nagisa's neck to apply pressure. Blood slipped between Haru's fingers as he held them down, determined to keep Nagisa alive.

'It's alright... it's going to be alright. Nagisa, help is on its way...'

Nagisa was unconscious, but Haru felt as if he _had_ to speak to him-

_Where the hell is the ambulance? He's fading away... Nagisa's dying in my arms..._

Sirens blazed as an ambulance and two police cars pulled up beside Haru, drowning him in red and blue light. Nagisa was laid down onto a gurney and wheeled into the back of the ambulance, doors snapping shut before it drove away. Haru screamed at the officers that he _needed_ to accompany Nagisa, but they didn't want to listen to him-it got to the point where Haru was handcuffed and forced by the back of his neck into a police car, driven away down the hill toward the local station.

'How did you know Hazuki's whereabouts?' One of the officers demanded, during an inquisition with Haru.

Haru had to lie at this point: even after what had just happened, he wasn't about to tell the police about Rin.

'Nagisa's sister called me to say that he was missing, and I just guessed he would be on that hill... Nagisa likes the turbines,' Haru lied. 'I've known him ever since we were kids, and Nagisa has always gone to the turbines to sit and think... I just guessed he'd be there tonight.'

The police seemed satisfied with this, as they allowed Haru to go-one of the female officers even offered to drive Haru to the hospital where Nagisa was being kept.

'It seems to have been an attempted mugging,' she explained to Haru, as they drove- 'If Hazuki does go that hill frequently to brood as you say, then he would have been in a very vulnerable position and easy to attack. We found a knife in the nearby bushes, but it doesn't appear to have been used on Hazuki... which means the weapon that made the wound in his neck was probably something else.'

_I know. It was one of Rin's teeth..._

'Although,' the officer kept going. 'Something about Hazuki's situation just doesn't add up. Clearly, the perpetrator was in possession of a knife and yet he used something else to wound Hazuki... and the wound on Hazuki's neck wasn't immediately fatal-it more closely resembles a slit than a stab. Almost as if they wanted him to be found...'

Haru looked down at his lap. Although the police were clearly having a difficult time trying to wrap their head around what had happened, _he_ knew perfectly well what had transpired:

Instead of using two teeth to bite Nagisa's neck, Rin sunk one tooth into Nagisa's skin and dragged the point along so that the mark resembled a slash wound from a knife-a small town like Iwatobi neither had the equipment nor the money to look into the mark further. Rin had been clever: Rin had been _careful_. He'd chosen not to kill Nagisa deliberately...

_But Rin left a knife by Nagisa's body__..__. he told me that between Nagisa and our relationship, only one of them could survive. And that text Rin sent me: 'if you really love me, you'll know what to do...' Did Rin honestly expect me to kill Nagisa?_

Haru shivered visibly and the officer turned to him with soft eyes.

'It's horrible what happened,' she said to Haru, gently. 'But try not to let it play on your mind. This is usually a very safe area-it's unfortunate that one of your friends happened to be involved in such an incident. Well, we've arrived...'

But the hospital receptionist wouldn't let Haru see Nagisa: she'd said that he was in the middle of surgery and only close family members were admitted attendance.

'It's a very precise wound,' a nurse explained, to Haru. 'One of the boy's arteries were sliced in half... thankfully not a main one, but he's losing blood at an alarming rate. An operation is being held to close the gap as we speak and he'll need time to recover afterwards: it's better that you go home.'

But Haru didn't _want _to go home-he didn't want to leave Nagisa, and he didn't want to face Rin, so he stayed in the waiting room. It had been 5a.m. when Haru arrived, and by 7a.m. he was asleep over the arm of one of the chairs, having not slept the previous night. When he woke up, he bought an energy drink from a machine and waited-determined to see Nagisa alive- until, finally-at 7p.m.-Haru was allowed to go in and see him.

'How are you feeling?'

Haru's fingers curled around Nagisa's wrist-just looking at the younger man made Haru _ache_. Nagisa was unconscious and had never seemed so fragile; his face was pale and arms were bare, with two IV leads sticking out of each one. Nagisa's limbs were limp and his throat was covered in bandages-several other members of his family were crowded around him on plastic chairs, wiping their eyes or gazing at Nagisa with faces clouded over by grief.

'He's going to be alright,' a nurse informed them all, later. 'We've stopped the bleeding, so all he has to do is rest. He'll get better-young Mr. Hazuki will recover.'

Haru left the rest of Nagisa's family crying in happiness around his bedside- feeling as if he didn't belong- went back to his house and curled up in his bed. Rin was probably downstairs, but Haru didn't want to speak to him: he was too overwhelmed to argue. He felt too sick and guilty to fight his case.

_Agonize... Rin: is this what you meant? Is this my punishment? You'll hurt me through others?_

Haru pulled his duvet over his head and closed his eyes: finally, only now, did he allow his tears to come.

* * *

On the second night of Nagisa's hospitalisation, Haru went back to visit him. He'd chosen to go at night as to avoid crossing paths with Nagisa's family-whilst he didn't have anything against them in particular, being around them made Haru feel uncomfortable.

Haru knew that he was the reason why Nagisa had been attacked: _Haru_ had been the one to challenge Rin's temper, _Haru _had been the one to push Rin's boundaries, which why _Haru_ had to ensure that Nagisa saw this through: because he felt responsible. Haru was worried about Nagisa, but he was also burdened by a sense of survivor's guilt; he had mixed motives. He couldn't say that his intentions were pure.

He'd bought Nagisa some chocolate bread and strawberries as well as a get well soon card, which he placed atop Nagisa's bedside table. There was also a card from Makoto on the table, so Haru assumed he must have stopped in at some point, as well as several other brightly drawn ones from various classmates; Nagisa was popular. Nagisa was _loved._

Haru must have been sitting by Nagisa's bedside for around three hours, when his phone displayed a call from Rin. Haru didn't want to speak to Rin, but figured it would only make things worse if he didn't; it was very bitterly that he picked up the phone.

'You've got a lot of nerve calling me. Rin, what do you want?'

'I'm very concerned. My love, I can feel it in the atmosphere: Nagisa is close to waking up, and you still haven't proven your dedication to me.'

'Dedication? What does that mean?'

'I stopped in earlier and left a present for you underneath Nagisa's bed. Go ahead and take it, Haru.'

Haru reached underneath the bed until his fingers grasped around the handle of... something. Haru grabbed the object and pulled, to discover that it was a meat knife-

'No,' Haru breathed. 'No, Rin, no-that's not happening, no!'

'_Haru__,_' Rin's voice was calm. 'I have everything planned: you don't have to worry. Nagisa's room doesn't have cameras... isn't that just convenient? That's what you get in a small town clinic. I also signed you out at the register ten minutes ago, so you have an alibi for his time of death. The nurses make rounds every hour to check on the patients, which means you have...' Rin paused on the other end. 'Eleven minutes until they discover his corpse. Go ahead, Haru.' Rin's voice dropped to a whisper. 'Sacrifice Nagisa for us.'

'I'm not stabbing him.'

'The first one is always hard, but it gets easier afterwards. Take it from me: Haru, I_ know_. Just plunge the knife into his heart; Nagisa won't even know that he died. He won't feel anything. He'll just... slip away.'

'You're crazy.'

'Haru, this is all because of _you_! I need proof that you love me-Haru, I need proof that you're mine like you said! Me or other people: I _told_ you to make a choice. Nagisa is expected to wake up before dawn, and by then, he'll have told everyone who attacked him... and I'll have to go away. If you can't kill him, then I'm leaving you, Haru.'

'No,' Haru pleaded. 'No, Rin, please: stop looking at this in a way that's so black and white! Rin, I love you- I love you so much- but I can't kill one of my best friends for you. I can't...'

'Then this is goodbye. I love you, Haru.'

'We don't have to kill him!' Haru was getting desperate. 'Rin, _please_, Nagisa won't say anything! I'll talk to him-I'll make him understand-'

'Which one of us means more to you?' Rin asked, quietly. 'Me or him? Haru, I need to know.'

'It's you,' Haru's hands were shaking. 'Rin, you know that it's you, but that doesn't mean we should kill just because we can! If you don't like me speaking to him, then I won't ever again, I swear. I won't talk to anyone else but you... I promise... just let Nagisa live. Rin, _please_-'

'You don't understand,' Rin mumbled. 'Haru, you don't understand- I'm doing all of this for_ you_: I need you now more than ever! I'm trying to make you understand that it's wrong for you to get attached to other people, when they're just going to die, anyway. Haru, if you can't adapt to my lifestyle then I'll have to leave you behind. Will you kill Nagisa or won't you?'

'F-Fine...' Haru's heart thumped in his ears. 'Rin, I'll kill him... give me a minute, I'll kill him...'

'You've got seven- Haru, _hurry_. We can't afford to hesitate.'

Haru looked at his phone in one hand, then up to Nagisa's bed, then back down to the knife. As he gripped the handle, his palms felt strangely numb...

_Didn't I tell myself I'd hold Rin's hand as we fell down into hell just to protect him? I love him... Rin is cruel and terrible, but I love him so much. Rin's nature is malevolent, but as a person, he means everything to me__-__how much blood do I have to wade through in order to get to him? How far am I willing to go?_

Haru took a breath and looked down at Nagisa.

_Nagisa, if you wake up, you'll tell the world about Rin. They'll take him away... they'll cut him open... I can't let that happen... I can't lose Rin__-__ I love him too much to let him go. I know that you don't deserve to die, but I'll grant you a peaceful death. It's going to be okay: Rin said you won't even know. You won't even feel a thing__..._

_Nagisa, forgive me..._

Haru raised the knife over his head-

'I can't do it,' he whispered. The knife fell out of his hands and clattered to the ground.

'Haru... chan?' Nagisa stirred sleepily in his bed.

'Nagisa...' Haru dropped to his knees. 'It's alright-everything's alright. Everything's going to be just fine.'

'Yeah...'

Nagisa's eyelids fluttered and he gave a weak smile; when he smiled, as happily as he did, Haru felt sickened with himself for what he'd been about to do. Then-as if remembering something-Nagisa's eyes glazed over and all the blood drained from his face-

'Haru-chan,' Nagisa breathed. 'This is going to sound crazy, but you have to believe me. The person who attacked me- I saw them-it was Rin... Haru, he bit me on the neck-'

'No, I believe you.' Haru gripped Nagisa's arm. 'Nagisa, don't worry-everything will be alright.'

_So Nagisa really did see Rin... Rin wasn't lying about that. What am I supposed to do? If Nagisa lives, he'll tell others about Rin... his body is living evidence, after all. But there has to be a way around it: there has to be some kind of compromise. I don't want to lose either of them... I don't want Nagisa to die, but I don't want Rin to go away, either..._

'Nagisa, listen to me.' Haru brought his head close to the pillow. 'You can't tell anyone about Rin-you can't mention him to anyone else. I know it's unfair, but I'm begging you... please, Nagisa: they'd experiment on Rin. They'd hurt him, and I can't...' His voice broke with the words. 'I love him.' Haru said, helplessly- as if that could justify all of the murders that Rin had committed. 'Nagisa, please... please understand: it's not Rin's fault that he's the way he is.'

'Rin-chan is a vampire, isn't he?'

The –chan was back on Rin's name, Haru noticed. He nodded thickly.

'Okay,' Nagisa replied, reclining against the sheets. 'I'm not going to tell anyone. Say, Haru-chan... will I become a vampire, too?'

'No. Rin said that isn't how it works- you're going to go back to normal. The nurse said you'll get better... Nagisa, everything will be alright!'

'I'm glad,' Nagisa turned his head toward Haru and gave him a sleepy smile. 'Hey, Haru-chan... I really think I need some sleep. Will you come and visit me again tomorrow?'

'Yeah,' Haru grinned, happily. 'Tomorrow!'

Haru felt significantly lighter as he left the hospital; Nagisa was going to live. Haru had found a way around Rin's proposition-he'd found a way for Nagisa and Rin to coexist. It wasn't definite-and it wasn't permanent- but for now Haru wouldn't lose either of them, and that was good enough. Haru was almost home when he received a text from Rin:

'Buy some chicken NOW with your DEBIT CARD. Leave the RECEIPT in your wallet and do NOT throw it away. Do EXACTLY as I say.'

Haru frowned at the text.

'Is it really that difficult for him to ask nicely?'

Haru didn't understand why he had to buy some chicken _now_ when they already had plenty in the freezer at home, but obviously if Rin had made an effort to text then it was important, somehow. Haru went to the nearest 24/7 and bought the chicken as instructed before going home and climbing into bed, burying himself between the bed covers and falling asleep.

* * *

Haru skipped school again the next day-he figured that his attendance was suffering, but he didn't really care: one of his best friends had just been hospitalised, after all, and Haru had promised to visit Nagisa again.

Makoto didn't go to school, either- when Haru got to the hospital, Makoto was already in the waiting room. Crying: he was crying. Blood pounded thickly in Haru's ears as every pore on his skin turned cold. Haru already knew what had happened even before Makoto explained it to him.

Nagisa had died in the early hours of the morning and his body was currently undergoing an autopsy. His bandages had 'come loose,' the bleeding had suddenly worsened and his heart had collapsed from shock due to blood loss. He'd been confirmed both brain and cardiac dead: Nagisa was gone. He was never coming back.

Rin hadn't been home when Haru had gotten back that night-Haru wasn't stupid and knew how to put two and two together. He'd failed to kill Nagisa, so Rin had gone and finished the job. Rin had never been about to allow Nagisa to live: he'd even said so himself. Haru had been stupid-Haru had miscalculated. And Nagisa had died because of it. No, Haru told the nurse-he didn't want to apply to go and see Nagisa's body. He wanted to go home. He wanted to be sick.

Haru felt strange and empty as he walked: as though he were floating-as though his feet weren't quite touching the ground.

_It wasn't my fault that Nagisa died... was it? I left him there: I left him on his own. But still, Rin was the one who killed him.__.._

A happy face... always smiling... Nagisa had been the last person who'd deserved to get caught up in the mess that Rin and Haru had created-and the last person who deserved to die as a result of it. Even after being bitten by Rin, Nagisa had chosen to remain loyal to his friends... Haru's remorse quickly turned to anger as he found himself breaking into a sprint, wiping his eyes as he ran.

There had been police at the hospital, too: police who had talked to Makoto and Haru, asking them in-depth questions about their whereabouts. The chicken that Rin had asked Haru to buy that morning had turned out to be Haru's alibi, he discovered-naturally, the police suspected Haru since he went to the hospital to visit Nagisa and signed out just under an hour before his death: although-thanks to Rin's text-they had no evidence that they could use against him.

At 2:11a.m, Nagisa's bandages had 'come loose,' his wound had reopened and he'd died: at the same time-in a convenience store 45 minutes away-Haru had bought chicken with his debit card which required his own personal PIN: the store even had camera footage of him. Rin had constructed the perfect alibi for Haru.

Most of the officers had bought this easily (regarding Nagisa and Haru's history) and were very sympathetic. Others, however, were far more cynical:

'How convenient,' one of them said, to Haru. 'That you just happened to be out buying meat at the same time your school friend was killed-at 2a.m. on a school night, no less.'

'I-I couldn't sleep,' Haru had lied. 'I was worried about Nagisa-I went to see him that evening, after all, and he didn't look very well. I was wide awake and low on energy, so I went out and bought something to cook.'

Haru didn't know if the officers believed this or not-or even why he was protecting Rin-but he'd been allowed to go. When Haru arrived home, he went straight to the basement and flung open the door-

'Why did you kill Nagisa?' Haru thundered.

Rin was lying on his back atop his futon, sucking on a rib of pork. Despite everything that had happened, Rin had kept his promise not to eat any more humans... not that Haru cared even slightly about that, now. The bones of the two people that Rin had previously killed had been picked dry and were propped up in a corner.

'Because.' Rin said, tonelessly. 'Haru, you asked me to do it.'

'I would _never_-'

'Haru, this morning when I phoned you, I asked you to make a choice: I asked you to choose between Nagisa and me. You chose me: you _told _me that you chose me. So, I assumed you didn't have the guts to kill Nagisa and took the liberty of finishing him off myself. You can thank me later.'

'_Thank _you?' Haru's eyes burned with angry tears. 'Rin, I only chose you so that you wouldn't go away-I was _trying_ to buy some time so I could make you see sense! Nagisa _said_ he wouldn't tell anyone-'

'Do you really believe that?' Rin snapped back. He tossed the rib of pork aside and sat atop his futon, eyes flashing dangerously as he spoke. 'Haru, are you willing to risk our entire relationship on the basis that Nagisa_ said_ he wouldn't tell anyone? I did this for us-to protect us! Why is that so hard for you to see?'

'We wouldn't need 'protecting' if you didn't bite Nagisa in the first place! Why would you do something like that? Rin, that was so _spiteful_...'

Haru was crying, he noticed: but he supposed that was logical, regarding what had happened. Haru hadn't killed Nagisa, and Rin hadn't killed Nagisa-the two of them had killed Nagisa between them.

Haru also cried because he felt helpless-he couldn't stop Rin from killing people, no matter what he said or did. If they broke up or had an argument, there was nothing that Haru could do to stop Rin from biting whoever he wanted. Haru couldn't explain or justify what Rin did: Rin bit and killed simply because he was _cruel_.

Rin didn't make any attempts to comfort Haru, and neither did he argue against what Haru had said. His face showed no signs of compassion: he simply watched as Haru cried, with an expression that was something like... indifference.

'Haru... this happened because of you.'

'_Me_?' Hot anger flooded Haru's body. 'How is this_ my_ fault? Rin, you're the one who bit him!'

'No, you failed: your loyalty to me failed, and that was why Nagisa had to die: these feelings of grief and sorrow are your punishment. You should be faithful to me and only me- just like I'm faithful to only you. Haru, all I want is to have a loving relationship with you, but you constantly insist on letting things get in the way, and that's why you're getting hurt: you only have yourself to blame. I think you should punish yourself.' Rin slid a small knife across the floor. 'Haru, stab yourself in the leg: I'll take some of your blood for payment.'

'_What_?'

The words were terrifying-Rin grabbed Haru's arm suddenly, pulling him down onto the floor.

'Haru... don't look at me with those eyes. I hate seeing you upset: hate it more than anything else. If you gave yourself to me, you'd never have to feel loss or fear... I would make you so happy, my Haru. But you don't want to be mine yet, do you? It doesn't matter-I love you. I always will.' He pressed the knife into Haru's palm. 'Now, show me how much you love me, too.'

Haru shook his head violently. There was a melodic-almost hypnotising-quality to Rin's voice that tried to lull Haru into obeying, but Haru didn't_ want_ to obey: he was afraid of pain. Haru threw the knife onto the floor and sprung up to his feet-he didn't even manage to stand before Rin pulled him back down.

'_Haru_,' Rin laughed gently. 'You didn't try to run away just now, did you? Darling, you're not faster than me- you should know that better by now. I think you should stay here and do some thinking; I'll be back in the morning to let you out.'

'No... I don't want to sleep in here!'

By the time Haru registered that Rin had let him go, Rin was nowhere in sight-Haru ran to the basement door and begun to pull on the handle. Locked: it was locked from the other side. Haru thumped on the door with his fists and kicked it as hard as he could manage. Once, twice, three times, five times... eight times... sixteen times, but it was the same: the heavy wooden refused to budge even an inch.

'RIN!' He yelled. 'Are you still there?'

Silence.

'Rin, I can't do this-please, Rin, let me out! I can't stay in here... Rin, I really can't...'

The basement was tiny-the size of a small bathroom-and close to pitch black without the light from the doorway. The whites of the skulls from the skeletons in the corner seemed to shine in the darkness, and skin that had obviously decomposed before Rin had the chance to eat it lay discarded across the floor among streaks of dried blood; Haru wrapped his arms around his legs and buried his head in his knees, breathing heavily. He could close his eyes, but he couldn't escape the smell-a rotten smell-it was getting stronger by the second. It was getting stronger. It was getting stronger-

Haru was panicking; his body had begun panicking, and he'd started to feel claustrophobic. The room was closing in on him until he was convinced that the walls were trying to crush him, and it had gotten hot-so hot. The skeletons were _staring_ at Haru-they were thinking about how much they missed their families, and how scared they were when Rin took them, and blamed Haru for doing nothing about it, and wanted to make Haru feel their pain, too. They wanted to scream at Haru, but didn't have the vocal chords or lungs to do it. So, they screamed at him silently-and they made Haru scream, too.

* * *

As Rin sat with his back against the basement door, he fidgeted. Rin could hear Haru screaming, but he didn't respond-it was taking every ounce of restraint in his body for Rin _not _to respond. The sounds Haru made were killing him.

When Haru called out his name in such a desperate voice, it felt as if someone was dragging the point of a knife along Rin's arms and the back of his neck, peeling away his skin until he was raw, pinching every nerve in his body with long fingernails, plucking at his resolve. _His_ Haru was suffering-_his _Haru was distressed. _His_ Haru didn't understand that Rin was putting him through this for his own good.

Rin loved Haru the way that he was, but he was afraid of so many things. He was afraid of losing Haru, afraid of scaring Haru away or of Haru changing his mind, afraid of someone else coming along to try and take Haru away from him, and afraid of Haru getting hurt-afraid because Haru didn't understand just how vulnerable he really was, and afraid of because-eventually- Haru would age and die. They couldn't stay in Iwatobi; Rin wanted to take Haru back to Australia and find out how to _preserve_ Haru-but he needed to make sure that Haru was ready, first. He needed to make sure that Haru could endure it.

Physically, Haru was Rin's idea of perfect. He had slender muscles with powerful legs and a healthy body-the body of a swimmer. His slim face was empathised by his neat, dark hair, and his eyes were a clear blue-coloured like a spring river-with light points swimming in their depths, framed by thin, black lashes. His lips were very soft looking, which made Rin want to bite them; all in all, Haru was very natural-Rin liked that: it was his favourite thing about Haru. Rin was careful to control himself so that when he became passionate he didn't mark Haru, because he felt very protective toward this naturalness-protective towards Haru's body, the casket that carried his soul and enabled him to touch, understand and connect with Haru. _His_ Haru, who had given himself to Rin willingly; whom Rin was going to love and protect.

Haru had quietened down, now: the realisation made Rin feel uneasy. What if Haru had fainted, or started taking out his fear on himself? He'd left no weapons in the room, but Rin could never be careful enough when it came to Haru's safety...

One more hour. Just one more hour, and then he'd let Haru come out.

* * *

Haru felt as if he were going crazy: everything was so _hot._ He'd buried himself in Rin's futon to try and build a closure between the basement and himself, to find that the bedding smelled like Rin. Rin didn't smell like anything in particular, but his own individual scent was familiar, and Haru found that comforting. He rubbed his nose against the pillow to find that it was _hard_: a book had been buried inside the case. Haru took out his cell phone and used it as a makeshift light as he read.

Rin didn't have any personal possessions-he kept his clothes upstairs in the drawer with Haru's so that they didn't pick up smells-and had come to Iwatobi empty-handed... or, so Haru had always assumed. The book in Rin's pillowcase was a yearbook from the elementary school that the two of them had attended, and for a moment, Haru wondered if Rin had taken the book from his shelf upstairs. Then he read the nametag inside:

_Rin Matsuoka_

_Rin brought this with him? Of all his possessions, the only one Rin chose to bring with him was a book with some photographs of when we were kids?_

It seemed out of place with its pink and blue cover in a room filled with dead bodies, but that was why Haru loved it. He was thankful for it-to him, the book was like a talisman he could clutch onto in the middle of a storm. Haru curled up in the bedding, absorbing himself in the photographs. They depicted a world where everything was bright and colourful; where he and Rin were happy, and didn't have to kill people... it was a better world. It took him away from all the horror in the basement- it distracted him from all the blood and gore that surrounded him. Then-suddenly-Rin was opposite him.

'Darling... How do you feel?'

The door was wide open, but Haru knew better than to get up and run away: Rin could move faster than human perception and Haru already felt sick and sluggish as things were.

'Rin,' Haru pleaded. 'I want to come out.'

'Yes, very soon, my love. Very soon: I promise.'

'I'm sorry,' Haru was trembling. 'Rin, I'm sorry that I hit you. I'm sorry I yelled at you-'

'Sssh.' Rin kissed Haru's neck and ears. 'Haru, this isn't about that.'

'I want to come out-'

'I know.'

'I'm sorry-'

'Haru, sssh. You're repeating yourself.'

Had Rin pushed Haru too far? He stroked Haru's hair comfortingly.

'Haru, I didn't mean to scare you: I just wanted to try and make you understand. I worried about you the whole time, and I'll make up to you-I promise.'

Rin unzipped Haru's jeans.

'No, please! Rin, don't... don't do it in here, please-'

'You're tense,' Rin rubbed his thumbs along Haru's ribcage. 'Haru, I feel everything that you feel-I know you feel sick and tense. I know you feel nervous, but also that you still love me... Haru, it's going to be okay. I'll make you feel good now.'

Rin lifted Haru's shirt and begun to thumb one of his nipples, massaging Haru's thighs and balls through the fabric of his pants. He kissed Haru on the neck and lips, reaching a hand inside of Haru's pants-Haru wriggled and resisted for a while until eventually he gave in, shivering with pleasure and shutting his eyes, laying his head back against Rin's shoulder.

_Haru, don't you feel better now?_

_You really can't understand how much you mean to me.__.._

Haru grasped the fabric of Rin's clothes, panting as Rin continued to move his hand up and down Haru's member, quickening his strokes in time with Haru's breathing. Haru cried out as his orgasm ripped through him and a jet of white liquid shot from his member, across Rin's fingers and onto the basement floor.

'See? That wasn't so bad. Haru, you came so much... taste.'

Rin tried to slip his fingertips inside of Haru's mouth, but Haru refused to part his lips, so Rin licked Haru's cum from his hands himself. Rin held Haru until he calmed down, pulling him back to slump in his arms, waiting for the rise and falls of his chest to slow, kissing him tenderly as his temperature cooled.

'Can I come out now?' Haru's voice was hoarse.

'Not yet... not yet. Haru, there's just one more thing that I need you to do for me.'

Rin dug a small knife out of his pocket and pressed it into Haru's palm.

'You'll hurt yourself if I ask, won't you?'

_Just a little cut..._ Haru stared at the knife. _Just a little cut will keep Rin happy, won't it? Rin isn't healthy: he's obsessed with me. But if Rin's crazy, then aren't I the same for always letting him in?_

_Aren't I the same, for not being able to leave him?_

Haru didn't want to stab himself in the leg, but he didn't want to stay in the basement any longer, either, so he squeezed his eyes shut, raised the knife and brought it down... then with the point a fraction of an inch away from his thigh, Haru's hands were caught by Rin's. Rin leaned across to kiss Haru softly.

'That's what happens when you put your trust in me. Haru, I told you that I would never hurt you, and you believed me this time: thank you.'

'You're insane.' Haru laughed bitterly. 'Rin, you're insane... you've completely lost it.'

'I love you.'

'Stop it.'

'I love you, Haru.'

'Rin, _stop it_!

Rin stroked Haru's leg softly.

'I know that you love me, too-you're still coming around. It will take time: I understand. Haru, it's okay... you can come out now, if you'd like.'

Haru didn't hesitate: he saw his chance and he took it. He staggered up from the basement floor and dashed out of the room, leaving without looking back.

* * *

Two hours-just two hours. It had felt like forever, but he'd been in the basement for just one hundred and twenty minutes. Haru didn't know what Rin had hoped to prove or achieve by locking him in an isolated room with dead bodies, but the experience had definitely done _something_-Haru felt empty. Haru felt drained.

Rin had left him alone after letting him out: he'd given Haru his own private space, which Haru had chosen to spend lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. Rin didn't come in or try to bother him, and neither did he make any noise downstairs. It was quiet. Haru was alone with his duvet and his thoughts.

Haru hadn't called the police to tell them who'd killed Nagisa. A part of the reason 'why' was because Haru didn't think going to the police would be worthwhile-he had nothing to prove his case. Rin had been declared missing in Australia four months ago, and-while it was true that they did used to know one another- if Haru explained this to the authorities, it would simply seem like he was shifting the blame, without actually indoctrinating a nearby person. To say that his childhood friend had come back to his house as a flesh eating-vampire and dragged corpses to his basement was simply unbelievable, in its best regard; if Haru tried to explain _that _to any officers, he'd be locked up in an asylum and they'd throw away the key. As well as that, Haru had now orgasmed in a room filled with corpses. His sperm was on the floorboards in the basement of _his_ house, mingled among the dried blood of two dead people-that wouldn't go down well in an investigation. No: there was no way the police would be helpful, because there simply wasn't anything that Haru could hold against Rin.

But even if Haru did have a believable case, deep down, he knew that he wouldn't have told anyone what had really happened to Nagisa, because he didn't want anyone to take Rin away. Right now, Haru was angry at Rin, but he still loved him... despite everything he'd endured. Haru felt torn and confused: the right thing to do as a human being would be to leave Rin behind, but that wasn't what Haru _wanted _to do... Haru wanted to be with Rin. It was as simple as that.

Haru rolled onto his stomach-feeling sort of empty-and picked up his phone. Craving another person's comfort, he scrolled down to find Makoto's number, hoping a conversation would cheer him up... yet just as he reached the name, Haru hesitated.

_Is this what Rin wanted? For me to break away from others? For me to accept him the way he is, and love him the way he is? _

Haru set down the phone and thought.

_I haven't been good to Rin. I've asked him to starve himself, and he has: when he attacked Nagisa, he didn't drink from him... Rin kept his promise to me. He's hungry and lonely, and thinks I don't love him: that's why he locked me in the basement and had Nagisa killed: Rin's desperate to know that I'm committed to him. I could leave him any day, stab his heart in his sleep or tell someone about Rin, but Rin puts his trust in me... he wants my dedication in return._

There were so many things about Rin that were ambiguous or didn't make sense, but thinking about them had brought Haru to a realisation:

He didn't have to understand Rin in order to love him.

* * *

'You're here... I thought you'd gone to sleep. Haru, are you hungry? I can make you something.'

Haru said nothing-he didn't know what to say. After coming down into the living room, he shut the door behind him, sat down on the sofa opposite Rin and stared at the wall.

'Haru, how do you feel?'

The question was spoken very gently-even with a pang of regret. Rin made no moves to get up or touch Haru, but rather observed him from a safe distance. Worried-Rin seemed worried. Haru stood and undressed, walked over to the sofa and climbed ontop of Rin's lap, kissing him deeply on the lips. Rin closed his eyes as Haru stroked his face, allowing Haru to run his fingers along his cheeks and ears, letting Haru smooth his hands down his neck. Rin slipped his arms around Haru's waist and held him protectively.

'My Haru... what is it? You're feeling so many things... I'm not able to-'

'I want you to hurt me,' Haru cut across. 'Can you hurt me?'

'I can't.'

'I see,' Haru looked down. 'Then, I want to try something else-Rin, make me so numb with pleasure that I can't feel a thing.'

Rin swallowed.

'I might be able to do that.'

* * *

Haru wanted to feel pain: he was overcome by the urge to be hurt in some way, because the idea of bleeding seemed so _attractive_. He felt guilty for what had happened to Nagisa, and he wanted some kind of punishment... Haru wanted to suffer for what he'd done, whilst brining pleasure to Rin. Blood was rushing to his head and his length was straining against Rin's thigh: he'd laid down naked on the floor of the living room, not bothering to go upstairs. Rin's red eyes shone with desire as he tore away his own clothes and climbed down on top of Haru, using his body to press Haru against the floor.

'Haru... are you sure about this?'

'Yes.'

Moist lips planted themselves on Haru's neck and sucked. Rin's incisors scraped Haru, digging gently into the surface of his neck, careful not to penetrate the skin. The way Rin licked his skin was tantalising; Haru felt a pulling sensation in his hips as a thin trickle of blood ran down onto his collarbone.

'Haru... can I taste you?'

'Oh... yes...'

Rin nursed the little scratches with his tongue, panting as he cleaned the streak of blood away from Haru's neck. Rin's tongue demanded access to Haru's mouth. Haru granted it. Happily.

As Haru licked and sucked on Rin's tongue, he could taste his own blood mixed in with Rin's saliva. Rin seemed to enjoy Haru's shivers and moans, in the same way that Haru enjoyed allowing Rin to bring them to his lips; he writhed in pleasure underneath Rin, begging wordlessly for the other man to enter his body.

'Haru... wanna bite you more...'

'Yes... yes...'

Rin bit the skin on Haru's collar as he thrust into him, tearing a layer of the skin in his mouth as he entered Haru in one sharp movement. Rin looked down and examined the marks: the flush on Haru's neck and chest was beautiful, Rin thought. It looked like red roses had blossomed on the white of his skin; _passionate_ roses that sprung up whenever Haru was bit or kissed-Haru looked so perfect. Fit to be kissed and adored.

'Does it hurt?' Rin asked Haru, regretting how hard he'd dug in his teeth. He didn't want to mark Haru because Haru belonged to him; Haru was his own untainted person and the object of his affections, whom he couldn't bear to see tainted. But upon Haru's permission, Rin had gotten excited, lost control-

'It's more painful than anything.'

But oh-it was wonderful, too. Haru liked the way his blood glistened as Rin's teeth pierced him like needles, biting the skin until it felt raw. It excited him-it excited him so much. He laughed as he ran his hands down Rin's ribs, laughed as he kissed Rin and laughed as he felt Rin's member harden inside of his body. He wanted to satisfy Rin-every bone in Haru's body ached to pleasure Rin.

'How do I taste?' Haru breathed. 'Do you like it?'

'Disgusting,' Rin laughed bitterly. 'I could never eat you, Haru. You'd better look for other ways to start showing your devotion...'

'Oh, yes... Rin, yes...'

_Cut me... hurt me... I want to feel pain. I want to feel what you feel... I want to be punished by you..._

Haru dug his nails into Rin's back, making pink and red streaks which instantly healed over. Deeper and deeper, Haru dug his nails... Rin whined and growled with every thrust in an effort to control himself as Haru scratched him. But Haru didn't want him to hold back-he wanted to arouse Rin's temper-he wanted to see what happened when Rin got angry. He wanted to be Rin's newest victim every night, the vessel of his anger, frustration and lust... because Rin's lust was a _bottomless _lust...

Rin's back arched in surprise, quickening his pace as he slammed into Haru-

'_Is that what you want? Is that fuckin' hard enough for you?'_

'_Oh, please: Rin, please-'_

'_Baby, I'm going to make you feel sooo good-'_

Haru felt as if he were levitating; Rin was mad with passion, pounding him against the surface of the floorboards. His body ached and tingled, and the heat was intensive-Rin didn't just send sparks through Haru: he set his whole body ablaze. Haru's legs quivered as his desire heightened and suddenly everything seemed to get hotter, sharper, faster and his heartbeat became erratic-

'_Haru,_' Rin rasped, through breaths. 'Cum for me.'

Haru came with a loud cry, his semen shooting several inches from the tip of his member into the air. Rin came moments after with a hiss and set his head on Haru's shoulder, rubbing his damp hair against Haru's collarbone, slowly moving in and out to exhaust his orgasm. Blood and semen spilled over Haru's chest and slipped down between his thighs. Haru gave Rin a long, passionate kiss on the lips, and they both giggled lightheadedly.

'Masochist,' Rin accused.

'Sadist.'

Rin kissed Haru lovingly on the nose.

_Rin is the sadist and I'm the masochist._

Yes...

Haru liked the way that sounded.

* * *

*****=it's not written because I couldn't fit it in, but you have to assume that when Rin went to kill Nagisa, he pocketed the meat knife that Haru couldn't use and took it back with him so that the police couldn't find it. (owo)


	5. Cremation

**Luuka:** Another long chapter done! This story is such a pleasure to write-I love playing with the atmosphere.

Reviewwwwww because my eyes sting and I want attention.

Also, I swear Rin and Haru spend 90% of this story in Haru's bed.

* * *

Dizzy: Haru felt dizzy-everything was happening so quickly. The room was spinning as Rin slid out of his body, climbed up and stood before him naked, offering Haru a hand. Haru accepted it and pulled himself up, pressing his body against Rin's.

Now that the hum of pleasure had receded, Haru had started to feel numb: the scratches and bites on his skin felt raw and tingled with sparks of sharpness. Blood rushed around underneath Haru's skin and Haru allowed his eyelids to flutter, still adjusting to the room and the concept of standing. Rin's arms were wrapped around his stomach, holding him securely in place.

'Such pretty patterns...' Rin murmured, running his tongue over the bites on Haru's neck.

'Others wouldn't see it that way,' Haru replied. Rin leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.

'_Others_ are insignificant; Haruka is all that matters to me. Are you going to school tomorrow?'

'I probably should.'

'Same thing tomorrow night?'

'Absolutely.'

Haru reached down to tug his shirt over his head, when a thought occurred to him and he paused.

'Rin,' Haru asked, quietly. 'What are we doing?'

'Surviving,' Rin replied, his voice low and deep. 'That's all that this is, Haru.'

'We killed Nagisa.'

'Yes, we did. But it was necessary.'

'Was it? Was it really?'

'Haru,' Rin grasped Haru's forearms. 'This is the way that things have to be.'

'But why?'

'Because: blood and sacrifice are a natural part of living. Haru, you eat chicken, don't you? And pork? Do you think about all of the animals that have died over the years just to feed you? Do you think about the lives they lead, the way they felt as they died, their families and all of their pain-you don't think about those things, do you?'

Haru shook his head at Rin's words.

'Humans eating animals is different to what you do-animals aren't as intelligent as humans.'

'And humans aren't as intelligent as vampires: Haru, it's not _wrong_ for you to eat animals-it's natural. Your body was designed for it, after all, and it's the same with me... Haru, you _must_ understand.'

'Nagisa didn't die to feed you.'

'No,' Rin agreed. 'But I'm trying to make you see things from my perspective. Haru, people aren't on the same level as me: _you're _not on the same level as me-I'm still getting you ready. When the time is right, I'll take you away from here: Haru, I'll take you to a place where we'll both be safe and can leave all of this behind. But for now, we have to stay.'

Haru allowed Rin to tighten his hold on him, his own body naturally relaxing into the other man's arms. Rin felt firm, warm and strong...

_I don't want to be like Rin, but I want to be with him. But those factors aren't mutually exclusive anymore: Rin is going to want me to change. Rin is going to want me to kill... maybe he's going to ask me to eat someone, too... could I really do that? If Rin asked, I think I could..._

_I couldn't ever say no to him..._

'I'll take you upstairs.' Rin told Haru. 'Haru, do you want to cuddle until you fall asleep?'

'I doubt I would be able to sleep with you beside me,' Haru replied, with a weak smile. Rin kissed his fingertips.

'I'll behave-I promise.'

So, Haru ended up in bed with Rin-he felt very comfortable by Rin's side, not wanting to fall asleep-just wanting to stay opposite Rin on the bed, feeling the other man lying next to him-wishing that the two of them could go on forever in that way. Haru threaded his fingers through Rin's red hair, watching his lovers chest rise and fall.

'I would never hurt you, Haru. You understand that, don't you?'

Haru cuddled into Rin's shoulder as Rin licked his way around Haru's neck, brushing the wet skin affectionately with his nose.

'You're so _gorgeous_, Haru.'

'I'm normal.'

'You're natural-that's what I like about you.' Rin's red eyes flickered in desire as he pulled Haru close to him, placing an arm around his shoulder protectively.

'Haru, I'm going to keep you safe.'

_Against what?_

Haru didn't know what to make of that statement. As far as he was concerned, right now, Rin was the most potentially hurtful person in the vicinity-but Haru liked the warmth of Rin's arms. He liked the way that Rin held him: it was so easy to get lulled away when Haru was with Rin. Rin's voice was so melodic, and listening to him was like entering a hypnosis... Haru found it very easy for Rin to settle him into a trance...

Rin told Haru that he was the most important person in the world to him, and Haru believed Rin when he said that.

* * *

Makoto didn't show up for school the next day, but he came to Haru's house after Haru got back; Haru walked through to the kitchen to make tea.

Makoto hadn't been holding himself together all too well since Nagisa's death; he was pale and often had a far-away expression, and the dark circles underneath his eyes implied that he was having trouble getting to sleep at night. Haru reached up for some cups when he noticed something strange.

_That's weird._ Haru noticed. _My cooking apron is missing. Did Rin take it away? Why?_

Oh, well: Haru supposed it wasn't important. He poured some tea and took it through to the lounge, passing Makoto a cup which he accepted wordlessly.

The two of them sat side-by-side, staring ahead at the wallpaper.

'I haven't seen Rin around.' Makoto said, eventually.

'Rin?'

'Yeah. I haven't seen Rin since the night you came to meet us.'

Haru arched an eyebrow.

'Makoto, what are you talking about?'

'You know,' Makoto dropped his shoulders. 'The night you and Rin had that argument about fishing. The two of you were holding hands, and he said that you were together-'

'Makoto,' Haru spoke very gently. 'Rin never came back from Australia. We haven't seen him in six years: I'm sorry, I really don't know what you're saying-'

'No!' Makoto stood up. 'You _do_! Rin was there the other night. Haru, you were arguing with him-'

Haru shook his head.

'I don't remember anything like that. And that doesn't sound like me-I'm not the kind of person to get into arguments. Makoto, are you sure you didn't just dream-'

'No,' Makoto was shaking. 'No, Haru, it was real! You have to remember... you have to remember what happened... Nagisa was there, too!'

'Makoto, Nagisa is dead.'

'This happened before he died! Haru,_ please_...'

There was the soft sound of footsteps and Rin appeared in the doorframe.

'Noisy,' Rin murmured, rubbing his eyes.

'H-he's here...'

Makoto pointed to the doorway which Haru glanced at, and then stared back at Makoto blankly.

'Makoto, what are you talking about? There's no one there-it's just an empty doorframe.'

Rin walked into the living room and encircled his arms around Haru's waist, nuzzling his nose into Haru's neck. Haru didn't resist the touch or appear to have noticed, because his body didn't move even slightly; he didn't so much as twitch. Haru stared back at Makoto with concern.

'Makoto, are you okay? I have some headache pills in the kitchen, do you need-'

'I-I-I have to go...' Makoto mumbled. 'Haru, let's talk about this again... I really need to go, my parents will be worried...'

Makoto snatched up his bag and dashed out of the room, hurrying away down the hall until Haru heard the front door slam shut. For a few moments Haru stood with Rin in the silence, allowing the thoughts in his head time to disperse as Rin twirled a few strands of his hair.

'I'm sorry darling,' Haru said, gently. 'Did I wake you up?'

'Haruuu... I think Makoto is going to cause a problem. What are we going to do?'

'I'm taking care of it.' Haru smiled. 'Rin, you should go back to bed-I know a way to get around this.'

Rin mumbled something into Haru's ear.

'Not yet,' Haru replied, quietly. 'Not just yet. Be patient a little longer... my beloved.'

* * *

It was five-thirty the next evening and Haru had barley been home from school for five minutes when two police officers knocked on his front door.

'Mr. Haruka Nanase?' One of them asked, as Haru opened the door.

Haru nodded and bit the inside of his cheek-whilst he had been expecting officers eventually, he hadn't expected them to come soon: certainly not this soon-he wasn't prepared.

'We have a few questions,' the officer continued. 'Do you live alone?'

'Y-yes.'

The officer dug into his pocket and held up a photograph of eleven year old Rin.

'When was the last time you saw this boy?'

'Matsuoka?' Haru pretended to think. 'Hmm... not for a while... maybe five or six years ago? He was friends with Makoto and Nagisa, like me. We all got along until he moved to Australia.'

'Have you heard from him since then?'

'No.'

'See, that's sort of inconsistent-we've had a visit from one of your friends; Tachibana seems _very _convinced that Matsuoka returned to Iwatobi and you've been associating with him since then-how do you respond to this statement?'

Hot anger curled in the base of Haru's stomach, but he managed to contain it-Haru dropped his shoulders lightly.

'I don't know why Makoto would say that-I haven't seen Rin since he went away. Rin didn't try and contact me but he may have come back... I don't know. His mother and younger sister... I think... live at the other side of Iwatobi: if Rin has come back, then he'll definitely be there.'

The policed officers glanced at each other: evidently, they'd already been to Rin's mother's house and learned nothing of interest there.

'This may come as a shock to you, but Matsuoka was pronounced missing in Australia around four months ago; Tachibana is convinced that you're hiding Matsuoka here.'

'Oh, he is?'

Haru tried his best to remain calm: his heart was pounding in his chest- fluttering and jolting violently within his ribcage-and panic was welling up inside of him. Rin _was_ home: he was asleep in Haru's basement, lying amongst the two skeletons-Haru couldn't let the officers come any closer...

'Excuse the intrusion, but we'd like to inspect your house.'

Haru laughed.

'Now really isn't a good time. I'm in the middle of something important-'

'We have a search warrant,' one of the officers continued. 'So may force our way in if necessary and arrest you at any attempts of prevention. Mr. Nanase, Tachibana seems to think that Hazuki's death was not an act of medical negligence, but in fact planned by yourself and Mr. Matsuoka-he also believes you're hiding Matsuoka here; might I remind you that the accuse in question is murder, so it's in your best interest to cooperate. I assure you that if you have nothing to hide then you've nothing to worry about-we shouldn't need much of your time.'

_Rin's asleep in the basement: we can't kill two police officers... can we? No: that will only attract more attention.__.._

Everything was spinning and Haru felt dizzy-what was he supposed to say? He didn't have any grounds to disagree-

'Of course,' Haru replied. 'Come in, if you want.'

Haru felt uncomfortable as the officers rummaged through his cupboards-even though he had nothing to hide in his living room, he still felt discontent with the invasion of his and Rin's private space; Haru slipped his phone behind his back and sent a brief text to Rin telling him to wake up. Tables were moved, rugs were lifted and the officers felt underneath the sofa and through his bookcases-every object in each room was searched until the officers felt satisfied.

They then progressed to the kitchen, where one opened up Haru's freezer and peered down at all the food.

'You buy a lot of meat for one person,' one commented.

Haru blushed.

'That's not a crime, is it? I'm a swimmer, after all-I need the stamina. And besides, I don't-I don't think it's a police officer's place to comment on how much I eat.'

'Of course not-I apologise.'

The freezer snapped shut and the officers went upstairs. Once inside of Haru's bedroom they found Rin's clothes in Haru's drawers, shook them and searched the pockets but didn't seem to notice that they belonged to someone else-even if Rin did have a slightly different taste in clothing, he was still the same age as Haru and therefore the same size, so his clothes seemed to blend in reasonably with Haru's. The bathroom was searched as well as Haru's grandmother's old bedroom and the airing cupboard... then finally, the officers progressed back downstairs and stood before the basement door.

_Rin is fast asleep in there, with the skeletons of the two people he ate... if the officers go in there, it will be all over. They're going to see everything..._

'W-wait a minute,' Haru blurted out, as an officer put his hand on the basement doorknob. 'I'm not-I'm not feeling so good...'

'You do look awfully pale-you're hyperventilating.' The first officer turned to the other. 'Otsuki, please take Mr. Nanse through to the kitchen: I just need to inspect this final room.'

'N-no,' Haru grabbed the officers arm. 'Please, both of you need to come with me right now! I really think I'm going to collapse...'

'There's only one more room remaining. Mr. Nanase, I must insist that you remain calm; we require your cooperation for a little longer.'

There was nothing Haru could do-he was already beginning to look suspicious. Rin would be in the basement: Haru knew that he could let the officers walk in, lock the door and leave Rin to eat them, but he also knew that if two officers went missing after visiting his house, it cause a disarray-it would attract direct attention to him and Rin, and Haru didn't know if the two of them could stand against the rest of Japan and it's police system. Heat rose in Haru's body and he squeezed his eyes shut. The basement door creaked open and Haru was met with the suffocating smell...

...of thickly and freshly applied paint.

'Woah,' Haru heard one of the officers say. 'That's really something!'

The basement walls were covered in a thick layer of blue paint-at least three coatings had been applied. A mural had been painted on the wall, depicting a shark swimming peacefully alongside a dolphin; just as Haru noticed it, his phone vibrated with a text from Rin:

'Safe and sound.'

Haru let go of the breath he'd been holding, and laughter bubbled up in his stomach to escape his lips.

_Rin... your drawing really is atrocious. But I have to say that- right now-this painting is definitely the best piece of artwork I've ever seen._

It occurred to Haru that Rin must have sent the text message because he'd felt Haru's relief... which meant that he was still close-close enough to sense Haru's emotions. Just where, though, Haru couldn't tell: he couldn't see Rin anywhere in the basement, or the two skeletons: Haru had no idea where Rin had moved them. He'd covered up the smell of the bodies with paint and somehow gotten rid of two sets of bones... plus himself. Where _was_ Rin hiding?

The basement had been completely renovated for painting: it was only a small room, but the officers searched it thoroughly. Blue tarpaulin covered the floor which was peeled back to reveal nothing-Rin had used paint stains to cover up the marks of blood. Old bed sheets covered the shelves and the officers peaked under them, but seemed to find nothing of interest. A stepladder sat in the corner, with Haru's cooking apron-now paint stained-draped over it.

_Rin planned this,_ Haru realised. _Rin knew that this would happen: he planned the whole thing in advance. If he wanted, he could have just ran away and left me to deal with the police finding the bodies: he could have dropped this whole thing on me. Instead, he knew we'd be searched and covered for us... Rin is protecting me. He loves me._

'That's a nice mural,' one of the officers commented, as he turned to leave the room-evidently, they'd found nothing suspicious.

'You think so?' Haru had to agree. 'Yes, I... I think so, too. I thought it would really brighten up the darkness of this room.'

'This apron here is covered in fresh paint. Were you still painting when we disturbed you?'

'I was.'

'Forgive us-we didn't mean anything by it. Tachibana seems to be in a very... delicate... state of mind right now: the death of his friend seems to have affected him very badly.'

_They're talking about Nagisa..._

'No, I understand his suspicion. Nagisa was precious to me, too, but I wasn't anywhere as near as close to him as Makoto. It's worrying to think that Nagisa could be attacked... but,' Haru put on an innocent act. 'I don't understand why Makoto would say that I'm with Rin, when we haven't seen Rin in _so_ long...'

'Has Tachibana been acting... strange lately?'

'Strange? What do you mean?'

'Anything might help. Anything that seems out of the ordinary.'

'Well...' Haru looked away. 'There are a few things, now that you mention it...'

'What do you mean?'

'I don't know,' Haru trailed off. 'It's just that his behaviour changes sometimes... I don't think it's important.'

'Can you tell me more about it?'

Haru held back his smile-the officers were walking right into his hands.

'You're not going to take him away, are you? You're not going to accuse Makoto of being_ crazy_-'

'No, no! It's just details to fill the case!'

'Then I guess I can tell you,' Haru made an effort of looking troubled. 'Makoto has been different lately. Sometimes he yells at me for touching him when I'm nowhere near him-it's just things like that. And...'

'And?'

'He mumbles to himself.' Haru lied. 'He says there are people following us, but I spin around and there's no one's there. He'll yell at nothing and see people in the wallpaper, and get angry for no reason... I-I mean, he _scares _me sometimes-the other day, for example, he stood in the middle of the road and almost got hit by a _car_... and he was yelling at me about how someone told him to go out there-I mean, it's probably nothing... right?'

'No... probably nothing.'

Haru's act had the desired effect: the police officers exchanged worried glances and begun to scribble frantically in their notebooks, their faces the picture of concern as they copied down Haru's words.

'You've been a big help,' they told Haru. 'Thanks again for your cooperation. If there's anything we can do for you, just let us know-also, it may be a good idea to stay away from Tachibana for a while. Speaking frankly, he doesn't seem to be himself... well, we'll make sure that the right people get to see him.'

Haru nodded and saw the officers out before calling Rin on his phone.

'Rin, where are you?' Haru breathed.

'Take a guess.'

'I don't want to guess! Rin, I was so worried... how did you manage to hide yourself and the bodies? Where_ are_ they?'

'Hidden... I have them both with me. Haru, I'm kind of stuck.'

'Okay,' Haru laughed. 'Tell me where you are.'

After going back down to the basement, Haru peeled back the tarpaulin and dropped down onto his knees, digging his fingernails between the wooden floorboards. They were stiff... they didn't want to come away. Haru pulled back and tried again-pressing his nails in deeper this time and curving his fingertips to push up the boards-until he finally pulled them away. There was a space in the floor where the insulation had been removed... and out of it climbed Rin, rubbing his head and straightening out his hair.

'I have the worst headache,' he complained, and Haru threw his arms around him.

'I'm not surprised,' Haru mumbled into Rin's shoulder. 'I never come down here, so I didn't realise you'd started painting... Rin, I really thought they would find you-'

'_Haru_,' Rin laughed as he breathed out. 'You really need to put more faith in me. And I suppose I should put some more in you... I thought really you'd give everything away, but you didn't-you're a great actor.' He touched Haru's cheek fondly. 'The concern I felt for Makoto from you was almost _genuine_.'

Haru shrugged.

'I didn't have to act. When you don't say a lot to anyone, people have a hard time telling when you're lying... but they still suspect me a little, I think-they seemed pretty cynical about the meat.'

'They would,' Rin smiled at Haru. 'They're independent people so still have their own personal suspicions, but that on it's own isn't enough-until they find anything solid, they can't so much as touch you, Haru. Not that I'd let them: I'd_ kill_ anyone who hurt you.'

'Of course.'

Once inside of the living room, Haru dropped down onto the sofa and heaved a heavy sigh. Rin peered up at him curiously.

'Tired, my love?'

'A little,' Haru confessed. 'The police inquiry was exhausting.'

Haru climbed onto the floor, held out a palm and smiled.

'Rin, come and love me.'

Rin didn't need to be told twice: he crawled across the floor and took Haru's hand in his own, kissing him softly on the lips and forehead. Rin pulled Haru's shirt over his head in one smooth movement and begun massaging his shoulders, dropping small kisses on the muscles and joints. Haru flexed and breathed out, feeling all of the anxiety slip away.

'Everything I do is to protect you, Rin.'

'Oh, Haru... your dedication is absolute.'

'Yes...'

'I adore you. I _worship_ you. My Haru... I'll be with you always.'

'Yes.'

Haru closed his eyes and lay back, allowing Rin to rub his shoulders and suck on the pulse points on his throat.

Things would become difficult in the future, Haru thought: although he hadn't discussed this with Rin, he knew that the other man had considered that prospect-it hung over them both, like a weighty raincloud. They had no way of disposing of the two skeletons already in Haru's basement-the same skeletons that had caused police to swarm to Iwatobi like flies around a roadside corpse. Rin already had to be careful not to be spotted when he went out at night, and Haru had to watch his words; as things were, Haru and Rin were uncomfortable-they had to tread carefully in everything that they did.

Rin squeezed Haru's pants and smiled.

'Don't _worry,_ Haruka-it will be okay. I can tell that you're thinking about something troublesome: I can feel it in the air. I don't like to feel you stressed.'

'Then take all my stress away from me, my beloved.'

Touch by touch, kiss by kiss... that was exactly what Rin did.

'How do you want it tonight, Haru?' Rin breathed, between hungry kisses.

'I want to do something for you,' Haru said in a low and stern voice, pulling on Rin's lower lip with his teeth. 'I want-I want to taste you... Rin...'

Haru dropped down onto his knees and let Rin stand above him-he wanted Rin in his mouth. Slowly, Haru unzipped Rin's jeans, pulled them down to his legs and took Rin's member into his hand, giving the head a few nervous licks. Rin laughed coarsely at this, smoothing a finger through Haru's thick, dark hair.

'Haruka, you don't have to be shy.'

Haru hadn't done this a lot but Rin had turned him on, and for what he lacked in experience he made up for in enthusiasm. Haru felt strangely powerful on his knees-it was strangely exciting. He liked that he could time Rin's moans with the movement of his lips and the strokes of his hand-it made him feel excited because he could bring so much so pleasure to his lover just by doing this simple thing; just by licking and sucking on his body. Haru sucked on the sensitive foreskin, scraping his teeth against it lightly-like Rin always did to him-satisfied with the moans Rin made, tasting Rin's precum in his mouth as it spilled out from Rin's head onto his own lips. Rin grasped Haru's hair and begun fucking his mouth, plunging his hips and dick against the back of Haru's throat in rough movements, moaning louder with each thrust.

'Ha... ru... ka...'

Rin's legs quivered as the fingers in Haru's hair turned to fists and Rin's climax ripped through him, hot semen flooding Haru's mouth. Haru could taste the bitter tang of Rin's cum as it slid down his throat- he leaned in and nipped the head of Rin's trembling cock, feeling Rin actually shiver-Haru loved the reaction. Haru waited for Rin to calm down-peering up at him with big blue eyes-before letting Rin pull him into his arms, kissing him deeply and passionately.

'Bed?' Rin asked, and Haru nodded-he didn't care how early it was; all he knew was that he just really needed to feel Rin.

* * *

Sex with Rin was very passionate and pleasurable, and Haru found the afterglow to be just as pleasing: Rin lay beside him playing with one of his nipples, flicking the nub back and forth between his fingers, pinching and stretching it. Haru had bitten into his lip, but every so often couldn't help but gasp and shudder-his body was still very tender from everything they'd just done, and Rin's touches were so carefully placed; so _specific_ and deliberate: Rin knew exactly how to work Haru's body.

'I want to see how hard I can make you just from touching you here,' Rin told Haru, circling his nipple with a finger-tracing the borderline of where the white skin met pink. 'We've only been doing this for a few minutes, but you're already almost erect again... you just lose it completely when I touch you like this, don't you?'

'Bite me.'

Rin grinned at him.

'In good time. The second I figure out how to make you like me, I'm going to do it, Haru. Then we can be together always.'

Haru had a mental image of he and Rin with fangs holding hands, cantering through a field of flowers together in a patch of moonlight; somehow, Haru doubted that even if Rin did bite him, things would go that smoothly.

'I don't want to be a vampire.'

'You will-Haru, you'll love it.'

'I don't want to be a vampire,' Haru repeated, again. 'Rin, I don't want any of that-I just want to be with you.'

'That won't work: Haru, you're growing up. You're going to be eighteen this June which would put you a year ahead of me in appearance-it doesn't matter that I was older than you before because I've stopped ageing, but you're going to keep going. Haru, I don't understand... don't want to be with me forever?'

'That isn't it and you know it,' Haru rolled over. 'I just... I don't know. I don't like the idea.'

'Is it the killing? Because I can do that for you.' Strong hands wrapped around Haru's ribs and squeezed. 'Haru, trust me, it'll be difficult at first, but after that it's instinctual... and humans taste good-your taste buds will evolve to like it.'

Haru didn't reply to this.

'What happened when you got bitten?' He asked Rin.

Rin frowned.

'To be honest, I don't remember-all I recall is seeing bite marks on my neck and feeling really ill for about three months-like I was going to die-and then I was unconscious for a few days... and then I woke up, and _really_ wanted to eat a person. I don't remember getting bitten.'

'In your sleep?'

'Maybe, but you'd think a bite would wake me up. Plus bites alone don't change people in my experience- I don't know.' It was Rin's turn to roll over. 'I mean, I have a theory, but I...'

'Tell me.'

'No,' Rin laughed. 'It's unlikely. And anyway, I'm not doing _anything_ until I confirm it-I only get one chance to bite you, Haru. If I pierce your main artery and it doesn't work then you'll bleed to death; I can't afford to make mistakes.'

Again, Haru didn't reply. He pulled on his boxers and a T-shirt and went downstairs to prepare some late dinner, deciding that whatever disagreements they had they'd cross together, whenever they reached.

* * *

Makoto still remained a problem; he'd begun avoiding Haru at school. Occasionally in class, Haru would catch him staring or shooting dark glances in his direction-Makoto was also being pulled out of several lessons to meet with the school counsellor due to what Haru had said. The police asked Haru a few more questions about Rin over the telephone, but other than that, things seemed to be fairly smooth-to Haru, it seemed as if he and Rin had gotten away with killing Nagisa. But, that wasn't enough for Rin: Haru could clearly see that Rin wouldn't be satisfied until Makoto was dead.

Kill Makoto and paint it as suicide: that was the plan that Rin had concocted. Haru had agreed to it consciously to keep Rin happy, whilst subconsciously feeling horrified by what he'd suggested; there was no real reason for Makoto to die. Rin wanted to kill him out of jealousy and spite.

'We should hang him,' Rin told Haru. 'Haru, last night I took Makoto's debit card and got some rope from a store where they don't have any cameras, so it'll be his number on the receipt-I can put it in his pocket when we do it. I bought a hook, too, and a hammer to put it in-'

Haru felt uncomfortable discussing his former best friend's murder: Makoto had done nothing wrong, but they were going to kill him-Rin was going to kill him just because he didn't like the fact that there were other people in the world who had been close to Haru. Haru cared about Makoto deeply and didn't want to go through with this, but the word 'no' to Rin was easier thought than said-

'Rin... does Makoto really have to die?'

'_Haru_,' Rin's red eyes narrowed. 'You're not having second thoughts, are you?'

'N-no, of course not...' Haru looked to his shoes. 'I just don't see the relevance. The police already think that he's crazy-no one will listen to anything that Makoto says. This isn't the_ same_ as with Nagisa-'

'Haru, I thought you were with me on this. I thought you said you'd be with me all the way-'

'I am!' Haru protested. 'Rin, I am with you, but the whiplash of police we're going to get if you do this... You're not looking at this clearly!'

'Haru, the_ law_ won't be able to touch us. I'm missing, and you'll have an alibi-'

'Alibis or lack of evidence won't matter: if two of my best friends die and one of them goes missing, the police would have to be idiots not to make a connection with me! Rin, Nagisa's death and your disappearance they can accept as coincidences because they happened miles apart, but if Makoto dies and I'm the only one left, it will draw attention-if they don't arrest me on suspicion of murder, they'll think I'm being targeted and take me away! Or worse, they'll search us again...' Haru's fingers curled around Rin's wrist and gripped. 'Rin, if they bring dogs to the house, the dogs will find the corpses-don't push this any more! Nagisa is dead, so why isn't that enough? Why is it _never_ enough with you, Rin?'

'Haru...' Rin's expression became cold. 'You're in love with Makoto, aren't you? Did you ever kiss?'

'Rin, _what_?'

'The first evening I came back to Iwatobi,' Rin's hands quivered. 'I went straight to your house, but _Makoto _was there-even as kids, he could never keep his hands away from you! So, have you kissed? How many times has he fucked you-'

'We're friends,' Haru replied, angrily. 'Rin, you're_ blinded_... you're not acting rationally! You're upset because you haven't eaten anything from a human and you're letting your jealousy control you... you're going to get us both _killed_-'

Rin shook his head.

'I just want to help you, Haru.'

And then he stormed out and slammed the door behind him, leaving Haru to infer that Rin had lost that argument, but he hadn't exactly won.

* * *

The next time Haru spoke with Makoto, it was face-to-face after school late one afternoon. Makoto had suggested that he and Haru walk home together... so, the two of them had walked in silence and then taken a detour to the wind turbines where Nagisa had been found.

'Makoto, I don't want to be around you any more.' Haru begun shortly. 'What do you want?'

Makoto's sniffed and nodded, wiping his eyes on his eyes on the sleeve of his jacket.

'Haru...' he laughed. 'Just tell me straight, because I really need to know: I wasn't imagining it that night when you and Rin were there, was I? You were really both there... but you're protecting Rin, aren't you? Because he's the one who killed Nagisa?'

'Don't push this,' Haru warned Makoto sternly. 'Makoto, leave it alone. Forget about Nagisa, forget about me and forget about Rin-make new friends and start again. If you don't, then you're probably going to die; if you want to keep you and your family safe, the best thing you can do is stay away from me- forever.'

'Haru,' Makoto's voice was hoarse. 'What's happened to you? Ever since Rin came back, you changed... you're twisted. Rin's twisted you...'

'Rin hasn't done anything to me,' Haru smiled. 'Makoto, I'm doing this because I want... because Rin makes me happy, and I love him-'

Makoto shook his head rapidly.

'You can't even see it, can you? Haru, I'm sorry... he's not going to let you leave him. He's not going to let you go back... Haru, you're a _victim_-'

Haru laughed desirably.

'I don't think so-I'm happier than ever before.'

'N-no, you don't want this: _Haru _wouldn't want this. Rin's trying to control you... he's _brainwashing_ you-'

'I'm happy!' Haru yelled. 'So, what does it matter? Makoto, I really want to stab you right now, so just shut the _fuck _up: I was always sick of you, anyway! All the touchy-feely _crap _you used to give me, as if I were a little kid... I fucking hate this town.' Haru laughed bitterly. 'Ever since Rin left, I've hated Iwatobi and everyone in it-why can't you just leave me alone? Rin wants you dead-I'm trying to do you a favour and let you live, but you just won't _fucking _shut up-'

The second Haru stopped speaking, he felt horrified with himself-Makoto stood before him-also horrified- blinking back tears as he gazed at Haru.

'You're not Haru anymore,' he mumbled. 'You're not the person I spent fourteen years of my life with-I don't know who you are.'

And then he turned and sprinted away, leaving Haru alone in the coming darkness.

_Whats gotten into me?_ Haru's breath caught in his chest. _I lashed out at Makoto and didn't even think about the words... it was like 'I' took a backseat, and there was something subconscious that came up and spoke them for me: is that really the way I feel about Makoto? All of those times I smiled with him... were they all... lies?_

_Or is the fact that I'm smiling with Rin the lie?_

* * *

Days passed steadily and Haru didn't meet Makoto again. They were still going to the same school, but the two of them didn't speak; Rin seemed very satisfied by this, as whereas he was at first grouchy, he now seemed to fawn over Haru as if Haru needed the extra attention-as if Makoto's lack of presence had been a big loss from his life.

Rin still wasn't eating anything from humans, but steadily, his resolve was breaking down. Haru went to the supermarket every day and they went through a lot of meat yet it still wasn't enough: no matter how much meat Haru bought, it was never enough to satisfy Rin's hunger. Whilst the meat tasted good to Rin, it didn't provide him with the energy he needed; Rin ate six shopping bags of meat a day, but still, he was starving to death. Even Haru could see that he wasn't going to last.

At the start of the second week, Rin stopped being temperamental and withdrew into himself-he was constantly exhausted. He spent both night and day in his futon, didn't walk around the house and didn't have enough energy to so much as open his mouth to eat the meat that Haru brought to him-he would lie still with his eyes pressed shut, barley saying a word or moving a muscle. Haru came home from swimming in the ocean late one evening to find Rin wrapped up in his futon; gently, Haru reached down and tucked Rin's hair behind his ears.

'Rinrin. You 'wake?'

Rin stirred sleepily.

'Mmn, Haru... what time is it?'

'Seven p.m.-I thought I would wake you now. Because you sleep during the day and me at night, we keep missing each other.'

Haru slipped out of his clothes and crawled into the bedding, pressing his naked body against Rin's bare back. Rin was burning hot-almost feverish- and Haru slipped his arms around Rin's waist, burrowing his nose in the firm muscles of Rin's shoulder. Rin had lost weight, Haru noticed; his ribs were thinner-almost malnourished- and his skin had a pale quality to it; he also rasped slightly as he breathed in and out, as if he'd just come back from a long sprint.

'Haru... you're hard.'

Haru laughed.

'I can't help it-I get aroused whenever I'm close to you. I've been thinking about you all day... I want you to make love to me, Rin. I want to feel your body with mine: it's been so long since we were joined together last.'

Rin breathed out sharply.

'Haru...'

'Yes?'

'I really can't... I don't think I have the energy. I'm really, really hungry right now... I'm trying to hold it in for you, baby.'

'I know.'

Rin moaned.

'I need to eat.'

'I know.' Haru's grip on Rin's side tightened. 'I'll find something for you, Rin. I bought some more chicken upstairs-'

'I don't want any more chicken... Haru, I want to human blood! Muscle, skin, organs, bone marrow... I'm so hungry, and it's starting to get painful. I haven't had anything from a human in almost two full weeks-Haru, I really think that I'm nearing my limit.'

And Haru thought so, too- Rin was so obviously exhausted. By this time of evening Rin would usually be up swinging from the furniture, pushing Haru against the bed, pinning him down with his crotch and fucking him then running circles around the rooms, but instead he was curled up in his futon... it was rare to see him asleep in the evening.

Haru knew that Rin couldn't eat animal meat forever-he'd need to eat a human at some point or else he would starve. And besides, Makoto wasn't speaking with Haru and Nagisa was already dead-Haru had no need to care about other people. He'd been set free of his attachments-

'This is all my fault.' Haru stroked Rin's hair softly. 'Rin, I'm so sorry- I'll be the one to find you something this time. This time, I'll be the one to bring you something-'

Haru had no idea how he was going to find Rin what he wanted, but he wanted to prove himself-he wanted to at least try.

'Um, how do you usually get your food?'

'Flirt.'

Oh, of course-Haru should have known. Rin lured people away with the idea of sex-he was attractive, after all, and knew how to show off his body. Haru was sure that the previous men Rin had brought home came willingly, expecting sex...

''Ss a convenience store a few minutes from here,' Rin mumbled. 'It's dead-hardly anyone goes in there. They have two staff there every night and cameras all over the store but none outside-I've been watching that place for a while. They always need to have one person on the till, and the male is a smoker which means that when he goes to the back of the store for his ten minute break, you'll have a window of opportunity to kill him. Haru, I think I should do it.'

_Rin's got this all planned out, huh?_

Haru wanted to impress Rin-he wanted to prove himself to Rin.

'No- you're not in any condition to go out. I want to do it this time, Rin: I'll bring you somethi... oh.'

That was right-

'How am I supposed to get the body back to you?'

'Don't: there's a dumpster in the back where he comes out-just throw it in there. Take your rucksack with a knife and cut out one of his organs-you can bring that back to me. If the girl comes out then kill her, too-you can't hesitate at all: if you hesitate then you're lost. Haru, can you do this?'

'I can do it.'

'Don't slip up.'

Haru took his old bike from the back of his house and set off down the road, still not completely sure of what he was about to do. The kitchen knife in his pocket felt as if it were made of lead, and Haru's hands quivered slightly as he gripped the handlebars.

Haru didn't like the idea of taking a life-he hated it-but he wanted to prove himself to Rin. Haru felt very emotionally connected to Rin-he loved Rin with everything that he had. There would be no one in the world who understood Rin-no one in the world who saw him as an emotional creature with high sensitivity and needs, but much more a monster who should be sliced open on an operating table, cut up and dissected. Rin probably thought that he was alone, but Haru wanted to stand by him.

Haru thought that if he killed in Rin's place, he could lessen the weight on Rin's shoulders and show Rin that he wasn't alone- that there was someone out there who understood him, after all-someone who would love and support him, because Haru knew that Rin was still sceptical about his loyalty. And Haru knew that Rin was romantic: for all of his malice, he was twice as affectionate.

When it came down to it, it was Rin or other people and Haru had chosen Rin-he'd choose Rin a hundred times over and still be sure that he'd made the right choice.

So, Haru stood in the shadows at the back of the convenience store and waited. He waited and waited and waited... until eventually, someone came out of the back door.

The employee was a male who looked to be about eighteen-Haru didn't recognise him, which would make things easier. He wasn't muscled, but rather tall and thin-possibly anaemic from the slightly pale colour of his skin- but oh, well: a body was a body.

Haru crept up behind the man, locked his arms underneath his shoulders and let his knife glide along his throat.

'W-what the fuck are you doing?'

Haru had faltered and been too soft, and the knife hadn't managed to cut past the skin-the man nudged him in the rib and tried to run away but Haru grabbed him frantically, determined to try again-his body was working automatically, now.

The man was frightened, and he had a flight instinct-that gave Haru an advantage. Haru was scared, but not as much as the other man-he struggled, but Haru's grip underneath his shoulders was strong enough to hold him back. He clamped a hand over the man's mouth and pushed the knife in- harder this time- so that he slit his throat completely. The body stopped struggling in his arms and blood begun to gush from the slit, like the stuffing coming out of a pillow. Haru dropped the knife, let go of the body and staggered backwards as the world swirled around him. Everything was hot, and for a moment, everything went black-then Rin jumped down from the shop roof and landed softly beside him, setting his arms on Haru's shoulders and helping him to stand.

'I got anxious so I came along. Good job.' He kissed Haru on the face. 'You okay?'

'R-Rin, I c-can't cut him up... I'm s-shaking-'

'It's alright-I didn't expect you to. I just wanted to see how far you'd go... Further than I expected. It's okay, Haru.'

Rin crouched down beside the body and pressed his nose against its neck. His pink tongue came out and begun to lap thirstily at the red liquid that oozed out from the slit.

'That's _so good_,' Rin breathed. 'That tastes incredible... I want to take the whole thing home. Haru, get on your bike-we need to go back. Right now.'

Haru squeezed his eyes shut in embarrassment.

'I'm sorry-I couldn't finish it. I love you.'

'I know-Haru, you're shivering. You should go back to the house: this isn't the kind of thing that I would expect you to do. I'll take care of it. Don't worry.'

'But I-'

'Haru, its_ fine_-you'll get there. And if not, it doesn't matter-I'm here. I always will be... Haruka, let's go home.'

After Haru got home, for reasons he didn't know, he started violently crying-Rin stroked his hair and made 'ssshhh' noises, pulling Haru close to his chest, telling him that everything was okay. But the tears didn't stop and Haru couldn't stop shaking-Rin wrapped Haru up in his duvet and held him until he fell asleep, where Haru kicked the covers fitfully and mumbled to himself. The next morning when Haru woke up, he felt hollow: he went down into the basement and sat cross-legged on the floor, watching Rin as he ate the person that he'd killed.

_If Rin hadn't followed me outside the other night, I may have failed him. I may not have been able to bring anything back, or may have scared myself and become immobilised in shock, or fainted until someone found me..._

Haru shivered with the thought.

Rin looked satisfied as he ate; his teeth protracted so that they all became pointed, and his jaw stretched as he drunk deeply from the wounds on the deceased man's skin, ripping away layers of skin as if they were wrapping paper.

'How does it taste?'

'Delicious.'

Haru was glad that Rin was eating, but all the same, the experience had shocked him...

'I killed someone.' Haru mumbled. He outstretched one of his hands to look at it-it was clean. Clean and pale in the dim light of the basement... until Rin's blood-stained hand covered it.

'How was it?'

'Easier to deal with than I expected,' Haru admitted. 'But still terrible all the same.'

'You're not a killer,' Rin replied, sternly. 'Haru, I shouldn't have allowed you to do that-I could have hurt you or changed you psychologically. But I just wanted to see... I just wanted to know how much you loved me-'

'More than anything.'

'I know.' Rin nuzzled Haru's neck. 'I'm sorry. I didn't mean to doubt you... I just needed-'

'It's alright.'

'I won't ask it again.'

'And I won't ask you to starve yourself again, either.' Haru said as he hugged Rin tightly, clutching the back of his shoulder blades with his fingers. Rin pulled back and gazed down at Haru, touching the side of his cheek fondly.

'How are you?'

'Still shaky, but a little better, thank-you.'

'You pull yourself together quickly,' Rin grinned. 'I wouldn't expect anything less from you, my Haru.'

Haru nodded and looked to the floor: the fact that he was fairly unconcerned about killing someone was making him feel more uneasy than the actual fact that _he'd taken a life-_

'Don't think about what you did,' Rin told Haru, gently. 'Haru, people kill for much worse reasons than you: people rape and torture each other... some people kill and then masturbate over the corpses-'

'Being better than the worst doesn't make you the best,' Haru murmured, remembering that quote from somewhere. Rin nodded, but didn't seem to agree.

'That's true, Haru, but you killed for me... so at least let me shoulder the blame. Let me handle this instead of you.'

Rin yawned and as he did, Haru caught sight of his two rows of sharp teeth. Rin was... surprisingly cute, Haru realized-like a kitten, just after a nap... ignoring all the blood and internal organs that were smeared down his chest, of course. Haru pulled back from Rin's embrace.

'Stay there,' he murmured. 'I'm going to get something for you.'

Haru ran upstairs and gathered several tubes and packets into his arms, before going back to the basement and thrusting them into Rin's arms.

'What's this?'

'Toothpaste...' Haru mumbled. 'Mouthwash, too... body wash and soap... So that we can... do things... after you've finished eating. It's so I don't have to taste other people's blood on you.'

Haru pulled his knees to his chest and rocked himself slightly. Rin crawled closer to Haru and nipped his ear, rasping in a low and breathy voice-

'Can't I kiss you like this?'

Rin's eyes glowed red as he purred, smearing blood on the corner of Haru's shirt as he leaned in to whisper in his ear. Haru shook his head.

'No. Rin... it's difficult enough for me to accept this as it is, let alone become a part of it-I'm squeamish around dead bodies. I don't like the thought of being near you when you're covered in blood.'

'So you're accepting that I need to kill people? You're saying that you're okay with that?'

Haru wrapped his arms tighter around his legs.

'I don't_ like_ it,' he said unhappily. 'But I don't want you to die, either. Rin... as terrible as it sounds, if hundreds of people have to die to keep you alive... I think I... I think I would be okay with that. I've done a lot of thinking about it.'

'I'm sure you have.' Rin nuzzled the nape of Haru's neck. 'You love me too much to lose me, don't you, my Haru?'

Makoto's words echoed in Haru's mind:

_Rin's trying to control you._

'Don't get 'need' and 'want' confused. Rin, I'm only with you because I want to be.'

'Is that what you tell yourself?' Rin laughed at Haru. 'Haru, I can feel your nervousness... your ache for me... how much you long for me, my Haru...'

But Haru was more persistent than that:

'I still don't believe you can feel other people's emotions-Rin, I think you're making all of this up. I think you're trying to use reverse psychology to convince me that I feel these things; I know what I feel and I don't need you to tell me, when I can decide what I want for myself. Don't try and push me around- I'm independent.'

'Of course you are,' Rin agreed. 'You are my Haru, who is independent... to some extent.'

Haru clenched his fists. Rin still wasn't getting the message-

'Rin, everything I've done for you, I've done because I _wanted_ to do-don't think that you can control me whenever you want, because you can't.'

Rin's lips curved into a smile.

'We'll see,' he replied.

* * *

As days passed, Haru found that accepting Rin was getting easier and easier: a lot of things in the world seemed weird to Haru-Rin being a vampire was only one of them. The dead bodies creeped Haru out, but they were just something that he had to deal with. Not that Haru went down to the basement-he tried to stay away from that room.

Rin liked to keep the people he took alive for several days as he ate them: he liked it when his victims were still breathing because their bodies were warmer to eat, their skin was softer and their organs were rich and warm, filled up with blood-it was torture to his victims. They didn't die quickly and peacefully-Rin would crush their vocal chords and break their legs, and they spent hours writhing on the basement floor in agony and crying out silently for help that would never come.

Haru didn't go into the basement; he _couldn't_ go down there. Even though he'd accepted what Rin had to do, it still made him uncomfortable and Rin seemed to realise this, as he never asked Haru to get involved where his food was concerned.

Rin always tried his best to make things comfortable for Haru, and always showered and brushed his teeth before allowing himself to make love to him. Every night, Rin would eat part of a human, shower and then proceed to have sex with Haru-Haru found there to be something surreal about that, and even moreso that he loved the routine. Evenmoreso that he waited for Rin naked in bed and _accepted_ him into his arms without question.

Rin was emotional and unpredictable, but also incredibly loving and protective-Haru had a hard time associating the word 'monster' with him, despite the fact Rin both ate and slept in a dark room that was crowded with corpses, because Rin took care of Haru. He would cook normal food for him sometimes, hold him tightly and help with the occasional chore-he'd kiss Haru softly on the lips and listen to everything he said; for Haru, Rin had literally all of the time in the world.

'You have blood in your hair.'

'Oh-sorry.'

As Rin climbed into bed with Haru one night with dried blood caught in his strands, Haru knew this would have been an appropriate time to lecture him, but he was so used to seeing Rin covered in blood that it was no longer something that surprised or frightened him; instead, Haru simply smiled and kissed Rin on the cheek.

'It's fine-not a problem. Your hair is the same colour, so it's difficult to notice.'

'Blood is sticky and it dries quickly,' Rin grimaced. 'It's hard to get it out so a lot of the time it tangles-sometimes I have to cut it.'

'Rin,' Haru begun quietly. 'How are we going to get rid of the skeletons in the basement?'

The question had been on their horizon for a while-it had been weeks since Nagisa's death, and the bodies were slowly mounting up. At present, Rin had been burying them underneath the floorboards among the insulation, but Haru knew that things couldn't go on: the smell in the basement was sickening, and dogs would bark and whine whenever their owners dragged them past Haru's house on their leads, scratching their paws against the bricks. They couldn't hide the bodies for much longer-eventually, something would have to give.

'I think...' Rin begun slowly. 'I think we should burn it down. Haru, your house: I think we should set it alight.'

* * *

**One more chapter to go :3**


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